Disclaimer: Yeah...if I'm the creator of Yu-gi-oh...Then why am I posting fanfiction, huh?
Chapter 3: Sleeping Patterns

Seto listened to the rhythmic sound of her breathing as he watched her sleep. He didn't know why, but somehow it was...relaxing. Although he really hated to admit it, he had been troubled about her condition. But you couldn't really blame him. After all, she had been sleeping for a day and a half without stirring. He thought about how furious she made him when she went out.

'She's just some little kid...don't even know why I hired her.' He had wanted to get rid of her but after the whole fiasco that we are wise enough to not mention, he didn't want to throw her out. Great, he was going soft...he could see the headlines already...SHOCKING NEWS: SETO KAIBA HAS A HEART.


He was also worried about his brother. Mokuba had been worried to tears ever since he saw Gardner in her unconsious state. Seto gazed at his brother, who was curled in a little ball on the foot of Gardner's bed, in a fitful sleep. Althouh he had tried to get him to go to sleep in his room, the kid had refused. He just held on to the girl's shirt, afraid to let her go. Afraid to lose the closest thing to a mother he had in a long, long time.

And yet...that was the thing about Mokuba that surprised him the most. Mokuba had had dozens of baby-sitters in the past, but he was bitter to them all. And here he was, acting as if GARDNER, of all people, was his mother. It made Seto jealous. He was the one that had taken care of him at that dump of an orphanage, he was the person that made sure that Gozaburo never harmed the boy like he did him. But Mokuba was acting towards Gardner almost exactly like the way he treated Seto.

He looked back at Gardner. Her face was flushed. She still had a fever, but it had gone down slightly. Her school uniform was clinging onto her sweaty body like a second skin.

'How in the world did she think she could go outside wearing something like THAT and not expect to get noticed?' Her sheer density amazed him. The other girls that worked as babysitters, they wore things twice as revealing as that uniform. And they DID expect to get noticed...by him. Always flipping their hair and winking at him like the brainless fools they were, trying to seduce him. Gardner...was different from them.

'What about her friends? The Dog, Yugi, Tristen, Mai, Serenity, Duke, the rest of those morons...huh. Probably wouldn't be agreeing with the fact that she is staying at my home...but they really aren't her friends anymore, are they...?'

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Tea's eyelids fluttered open. Almost immediately, she was attacked with a piano sized migraine that blurred her vision. She tried to remember the last thing that happened, but her mind was as blank as a newly erased chalkboard. Tea looked around the room to see if there was any thing that indicated where she was, but could barely identify anything in the room at all, thanks to her failing vision. She rubbed her eyes and squinted. The first image that her brain deciphered shocked her.

Seto was sleeping deeply in a chair next to her bed. His normally cold and forbidding scowl had been replaced with a less, albeit still, stern frown, reminding Tea of her late grandfather, who always reprimanded her in front of her parents, but gave her peppermints as soon as their heads were turned. He almost looked...cute.

But...where was Mokuba? She looked around frantically to find him, but didn't see the little boy anywhere. Trying to get up to look for him, she failed miserably. Something was on her feet. She looked down and her panicked expression vanished. There he was, sound asleep in a little ball, a kitten in front of the fireplace. On his face she could see the trails that the tears traced on his cheeks.

'I must have worried him sick...' Gently picking him off of his bed, she quietly carried him to his room and tucked him lovingly into his bed. Tea kissed his forhead and tiptoed out of the room, closing the door silently behind her.

'Now for the second Kaiba . . .' she groaned at the thought.

She walked slowly to her room. Although she hated to wake Kaiba up, she didn't want him to wake up with a neck like cement. She tapped him on the shoulder. He stirred but didn't wake up. She tapped him on his shoulder again, this time a little harder. Same results. Sighing, she slid his trench coat off of him and lifted him up by his arms, which was a very strenuous task considering that he weighed about a hundred and fifty pounds. Finally though, she managed to get his upper body onto the bed. Now all that that there was left to do was get his legs up. She walked around him to get to his legs, and ended up tripping over her own feet, falling on top of him.

Tea stared at his sleeping face.

'Something about this feels strangely right...'

She was inches away from his lips. 'I wonder...'

She closed the gap.

Seto stirred.

That was enough to snap her back into reality.

'WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!' she screamed in her head. She jumped off the bed and landed painfully onto the cold floor.

Getting up, she tenderly lifted his legs up onto the bed. She realized what she had done, but she just couldn't help it. There was something about that face that gave her the urge to...

"Sweet dreams, Seto," she whispered in his ear before kissing him on the forehead. The girl put the comforter over him and walked out of the room.

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Seto woke up, and looked around, startled. He knew already that he was in Tea's room, but he clearly remembered being on the floor. So why was he on the bed? And where was Tea and Mokuba?

Panic struck him. He ran to Mokuba's room, and found his brother in his bed. He looked relieved at Mokuba's saftey, but the emotion slipped off of his face when we remembered Tea.

'That idiot!' he thought, running through the house in search of her. 'How the hell does she expect to get better if is walking around?'

He flung the kitchen door open. Tea was at the sink, washing dishes.

She didn't notice Kaiba's entry. Trapped in her own little world, softly humming a song to herself while scrubbing a particularly stubborn pan. Something about her, the aura she was radiating...it seemed almost sad.

Flashback


Tea was skipping in the school hallways merrily, headed to the school auditorium to retrieve her dancing shoes that she had left behind. She was on cloud nine. Why wouldn't she be? She had great friends, good grades, and she finally was dating Yami. When she opened the door, her happiness was instantly replaced with shock. Then rage. Then misery.


She saw them the both of them. A girl with jet black hair and clear green eyes. A girl that was much prettier than her.


"Mira, I've loved you for a long time and I just wanted to tell you how I feel..."


"Why?" Mira asked him, wrinkling her nose in slight distain. "I thought you liked that other girl."


"I only said that I loved her because I thought that it was my destiny. But now I've realized...you are the only one that I truly love."

"I love you too," she murmured lovingly. She moved in for the kiss...Tea couldn't bear it any longer.


"Yami!"

The scream echoed throughout the almost empty room. Yami jerked his head and saw Tea. His sanguine eyes widened.

"I trusted you...but now I know that what you said was all a lie." she said quietly. Though her face was turned downward, Yami could see the trails of tears falling down her rosy cheeks.


"Tea..."


"No Yami! I won't fall for it any more!" she turned and slammed open the exit door and fled away.


Had she listened any longer she would have heard him say, "...we were practicing for a school play..."

End Flashback

She let the tears well up in her eyes at the memory. It was over and done with now. She had to move on.

"Tea?"

That was Seto's voice.

Tea hastily blinked away her tears. If there was one person that she didn't want to see her tears it was him. And Mokuba, of course. In spite of that, she was very surprised that he had called her by her FIRST name. He usually called her "that ditsy cheerleader" or "Gardner." Turning to him, she opened her mouth to reply.

"Yes?" she asked. "I am doing my job correctly aren't I?"

Seto's normally emotionaless mask failed him for a moment, but was back up in a flash.

"You idiot! Why the hell are you up? You've been sleeping for nearly two days straight, you can't just jump up and walk around!"

She winced at his sudden outburst, but soon retaliated. "So sorry that I decided to do my job, MISTER Blue Eyes!"

"...What did you just call me?" he raised his eybrow in amusement."I called you Mister Blue Eyes. You have a problem with that?"

"Well...I don't know...usually my employees call me Mr. Kaiba..." he said

sarcastically. Tea stared at him. Her fingers tapped her chin as she cocked her head ot one side.

"Hmm...thought that was a witty comment, huh? I just happened to think that the name suited you. After all, you've got blue eyes, and the Blue Eyes is your favorite card, after all."

"How did you know that it was my favorite card?" he asked.

"I dunno," she rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's because you've got a BLUE EYES LAPTOP?" all through this, they stared at each other. Finally, Seto shook his head.
"You are one odd girl, Gardner."

"Not as strange as you, anyways...but I'll take that as a compliment," Tea stopped and smiled. "Hmm. . . Back to Gardner again, huh? Make up your mind already!" she said teasingly. Seto looked confused.

"What in the world are you talking about?" he asked quizzically.

"Don't think I didn't notice. You called me Tea a minute ago. And that was the first thing that you said to me." she replied. Her grin swelled in size.

The CEO's face flushed a light pink. He turned so that she couldn't see it. "I don't know what you are talking about." he said stiffly. Tea laughed.

"Whatever." she replied simply. She was about to say something else, but was cut off by her sudden coughing.

"Gardner, do you now see the importance of resting when you are ill?" Kaiba said mockingly.

"I'm fine, Kaiba. I want to clean. I'm not going to bed and you can't make me," she stuck her tongue out childishly. An unusual evil glint made itself visible in Kaiba's blue eyes.

"Wanna bet?"

"What in heaven's name does that..." she didn't get to finish her sentence when he picked her up by her waist, slung her effortlessly over his shoulder, and walked off towards the stairs.

"HEY! Seto Kaiba, put me down right this instant, or I'll really hurt you! " she screamed in rage while pounding on his back with her hands. He snorted at this.

"What, are you going to injure my back with your pathetic taps?" he continued walking up the stairs and reached her room. Walking in, he tossed her gently onto her bed. Tea jumped back up, but was pushed back down by Kaiba. She swung her hand back as if she was about to slap him, but he took both her hands and held them down.

...And what an unusual position that was. Kaiba's eyes were taunting her. Even with all of her strength, he wasn't breaking a sweat.

"And what makes you think that I'll go to sleep now?" she yelled in his face. His smirk grew.

"Simple. I'm going to lay down with you until you do."

"WHAT? How do I know that you won't take advantage of me when I'm sleeping?"

Seto burst out in laughter. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Fine! Now, if you please, will you let go of me?" she said in forced calm. He obliged. Huffing, she pushed him off of her and crawled into her covers, then slowly difted off into dreams. Seto watched her sleeping form.

"You never cease to amaze me...Tea."