NOTE: I'm sorry…. Lots of people were like, "They're kissing again? Already?" Did I rush that? I'm sorry if I did. Did you not like the rush or something? I thought it was sort of well spaced out…. Cause, wasn't that other kiss like…four chapters ago? Oh well. I had nothing else to write about! Can you blame me? Plus! It WAS an accident, remember? This one WAS an accident! Oh well, whether you like it or not: it's there, and now, the cliffie is being reprimanded!

Disclaimer: No, no, and definitely not, do I own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 8: Gashes and Scars

As soon as Tea and Seto's lips touched…again…Tea's mind jumped into high gear. Not five seconds later, she pulled back, and finding the strength in her legs again, quickly stood up, backing away slightly.

"My God…I'm so sorry, Kaiba. I SO didn't mean to do that…this time. Really, I'm sorry-!" she backed up even further.

"Just shut it, Gardner, I get the picture!" Seto snapped back. He slowly stood and limped over to retrieve the flashlight. He then picked it up and shined it on Tea. Still being jumpy, she moved backwards when his gazed averted to hers. Of course, she didn't exactly see the open chair behind her.

That's when she tripped over the chair, yelped, and fell backwards, onto the other side of the desk.

"Who the flippen heck is against me today?" Tea winced. A flash of worry quickly passed over Seto's eyes. Not wondering why he was doing so, he suddenly went over to her. He bent over the seat, and saw Tea sitting on the ground, holding her upper arm, and her legs lay out in all sorts of positions: one of which was still sprawled out on the chair, above her.

Speaking of her legs…. Seto couldn't help but to notice that she really did have gorgeous legs. Unknowingly, he let his eyes slowly travel them.

That is, until Tea noticed what he was doing and used the leg he was "admiring" to kick him in the chest (remember, he was bent over the chair).

Seto recoiled holding his chest cavity, "God! What did you do that for? You've made me even more handicapped!" Seto spat out.

"Well then, quick looking at me like that! And here I thought you were the only non-perverted guy in the whole school!" then, more quietly, she said, "Good thing I took off my skirt, or else you'd be trying to look up that too."

"Excuse me? I would do no such disgusting thing!" Seto winced. In speaking so roughly, he had caused his chest some pain.

All the while, Tea had been trying to hold back tears of pain. The arm that she was holding was throbbing.

Seto slowly started to recover from the brief pain and took up the flashlight once again, shining it down on her. He held out his hand to help her up, then noticed her holding her arm, and…tears running down her face.

"Great: you're hurt! You could have said this sooner!" Seto clambered over the seat, difficulty, and walked over to her. He stood behind her, bent down, and held her around the waist. Tea looked up quickly, not sure what he was doing. As he started to lift her up, she saw that he was trying to help her. Amid the tears, a small smile broke out on her face.

"…Thanks," she gasped when she was standing. Seto just nodded in reply.

"Come on. Sit down. We best have a look at that," he pointed to her arm.

"Huh? No! I mean…no. It's…it's fine! The pain has passed now," Tea quickly sped out. Seto looked at her, with a you're-not-telling-me-the-obvious-truth look. Without her consent, he pried her fingers off her arm, and rolled up her sleeve.

"Kaiba! I said-"

"No: you lied," Seto replied, "Something I thought I would never here from you of all people." Tea felt slightly ashamed. But…for some reason…she just had to….

"You've been hurt here before," Seto stated, tracing the bandage that was quickly reddening with Tea's blood. Tea never answered. Really, it was a statement, and not a question. Seto, though, proceeded to finding that first aid kit that Tea had used on him. It wasn't too far out of reach. He pulled up a chair next to her, and opened the kit.

Time for me to repay my small debt, he consented within his mind.

"We're going to have to replace those bandages," Seto stated, just for Tea's benefit of hearing. After all, could Seto be sure that she knew he had to do so?

"Huh? What? Why?" Tea looked down at her arm. Her face grew pale. It seemed that fragile cut of hers had reopened. Not good….

Seto reached over to her arm to begin untying the bandages. Upon seeing this, Tea shoved his hand away, "Stop! I never said-"

"Gardner, what is wrong with you? Hold still-"

"Just shut up! I can take care of it myself!"

"You're in no condition to take care of it yourself!" Seto retorted.

"Am too!"

"Was I in any condition to take care of myself when I became injured?" Seto quizzed her.

Tea stopped. Seto smiled: Bin-

"Because you fainted." Suddenly she started to laugh, "It was because Seto Kaiba fainted!"

Seto could have taken this time to quickly replace her bandages, had this statement not caught his attention, "Ha, ha, yeah, whatever. So I fainted: big deal. Everybody does it at least once in their life."

"Not everybody!" she continued to laugh, "and to think you: of all people-"

"Alright, zip it, Gardner. Just hold still now," that was all it took to break the spell.

"What? No! I'm not letting you touch me!" she tore away from Seto's slight grip.

Seto looked at her sternly, "Look, Tea, you need help, and right now, I'm the only one here to give it!" This took Tea by surprise. Seto smirked slightly, as to not give away his strategy: bingo.

"Did…did you just call me…Tea?" she inquired, sounding quite dumbfounded…or a little on the stupid side.

"Yes, Tea, I did," Seto took this opportunity of surprise to start unwrapping Tea's bandages.

"But…I…why?"

"Hmm…" Seto had to think up something quick, before he broke his little "spell." (Ironic, seeing that he was a high priest/mage in ancient times!) He had used this technique numerous times on his two brothers after they had gotten into scrapes and such. It was a way of distraction for them, so that they wouldn't feel the pain. For Tea though, it was a distraction so that she wouldn't see him helping her.

"I guess I've never realized that "Tea" has a nice ring to it. It's a…nice name." As he finished unwrapping the bandages, his eyes widened as they fell upon a two inch gash in her arm. (People: that IS a big gash: look a ruler if you must)

Tea narrowed her eyes slightly, "…You lie."

"Hmm?" Seto looked up, having been concentrating more on the size of the blood-happy gash, than her.

Her eyes narrowed even further, "You were lying."

"Have you the proof?" Seto returned to helping her. He kept glancing at her arm, while trying to keep sufficient eye contact with her, so that she wouldn't suspect much. Heck, she was still in a state of surprise…and deeply absorbed into this matter.

And all he had done was call her by her first name. Go figure.

"I…uh…well…not…really," Tea looked away, slightly shamed. She hated it when she was proved wrong. It wasn't part of her nature. Seto took this time to clean the wound. There were some disinfectant wipes in the kit. He took those out, and took on in his hand. His other hand, he used for slightly squeezing her arm, to numb it, so that she wouldn't feel the stinging pain of the disinfectants.

Tea winced slightly. Why, she was unsure. And why had she and Seto stopped talking? Oh, that's right…he had proved her wrong.

She had to find a way to prove that he had been lying. Think, Tea…think!

This was more than Seto could have asked for. He had put her into a position where she was deep in thought, and wouldn't even notice if Seto had come in and kissed her! Not that that was in the plans or anything…just a figure of speech.

Seto had the gash cleaned, and then preceded to wrapping up the new bandages.

Just a little more…almost done… Seto thought too himself, ushering him on.

"Hey, Kaiba?" Tea's voice suddenly sounded.

"What?" Seto said, with more surprise in his voice, than irritation, like there usually was. He had been aiming for the natural irritation, but….

"About my-" she stopped when she saw him heavily concentrated on something else…her arm. Big mistake, Seto.

"What the crap are you doing!" Tea jerked her arm away from him. Fortunately, as we all know, Seto is a fast worker. He had applied the medical tape just before Tea had ripped her arm out of his grasp.

"Who gave you permission to go and-"

"Fix you up?" Seto ended for her. Tea halted and looked at her arm. The bandages were all new; they were perfect.

"Oh…thank you…" she said, her voice filled with awe. Seto Kaiba had helped her? "But wait," she looked at him, "How did you get these on without me noticing?" Seto gave a small smirk and looked elsewhere around the room.

"I believe you could figure that out," he sat back in his seat. Tea thought for a moment. Then it hit her. She wasn't stupid, but she wasn't totally fast at these mind games, either.

"You…distracted…no, tricked me!" Tea looked at him, slightly angry, and slightly amused.

"I do believe distracted, is the better word," Seto replied.

Tea suddenly stood up, "Ha! So it WAS all a lie then!"

"I just distracted you: I never said I li-" he stopped, immediately shutting his mouth. What the crap was he saying? Tea blinked a couple times.

"You…you…you HAVE to be lying! It just isn't possible!" Tea gaped at him.

"Yeah: I'm trying my best to convince myself to agree with you," Seto was looking back and forth at the empty spots beside him, as if trying to see the right side of the argument to choose.

And then Tea laughed.

Seto sat up, "What's so funny?"

"E-E-Exactly w-what you j-just s-said!" Tea grabbed the side of the desk, "I-I'm sorry, b-but I just f-find it hil-larious!" she continued to laugh.

Seto just watched her. He was NEVER going to understand this girl. One minute, she was freaking out over him helping her, and the next, she's laughing at him! It was just so…so…

Mysterious.

Kind of like him….

Great! Now he was looking at similarities: this wasn't their detention (technically)! What next?

Tea slowed down her laughing, and sat back down, "S-Sorry 'bout that." Seto then noticed that her sleeve was still rolled up. That reminded him….

"…Where did you receive that injury," he nodded towards her arm.

"Huh?" Tea looked down at the wound quickly. "Oh…uh…I…tripped into the corner of my nightstand," she looked away rather sheepishly.

Seto pressed on, "Tripped on what?"

"Nothing! Just…tripped," Tea returned. She glanced at him. His face was stone hard, as if expecting more. "What? I just told you! What else do you want?"

Seto chose his next words very carefully:

"…Who was it?"

Tea blinked at him, "…Excuse…me?"

Seto sighed, slightly, "I asked, 'who was it?'"

"What makes you think someone tripped me? It was just tripping over my feet as usual or something! Why would anyone want to hurt me?" a tear ran down her face as this jerked certain thoughts.

"…Because you're crying. And I know abuse when I see it. You're not even that clumsy to trip and not catch onto something, before you hit that corner. Somebody had to have pushed you…hard."

"I…you…YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING! NOBODY IS HURTING ME!" Tea yelled at him, even more tears falling down her cheeks.

Seto stood up so quickly, that Tea barely even saw him rise. It looked like he had just magically popped up, above her eye level. And then Tea registered a familiar sight in: Seto's arm was pulled back as if ready…

To hit her.

Tea's body instinctively took over, and she looked away, tensing up. Tears continued to fall.

Seto's eyes softened. Look at her…she doesn't deserve any of this.

"That just proves it."

Tea opened her eyes and looked up. Seto's arm was lowered, and he as looking at her sternly. "Wh-What do you mean."

"As if I would have actually hit you, Gardner. It was a simple test. You reacted much quicker than normal to my position. It just proves that you've seen it all before…many times before," Seto explained.

"I…I…no! I'm just…weak! I can't stand up to that sort of thing…so I flinch-"

"Weak? You? Ha!" Seto mocked, "Listen to yourself, Gardner! You're anything but weak!" Tea was fuming at him. As more tears streamed down her face, she prepared to slap him. But this time, Seto was ready. He grabbed her hand and held it there firmly. And when she tried bringing up the slap with her other hand, he grabbed that one too. Tea started struggling to free herself.

After struggling for a few minutes, she let herself collapse onto his chest. Seto, taken aback, slightly let go of her arms. Tiredly, and with not as much force as she had previously intended, she the spaces between his shoulders and chest, while yelling:

"JUST SHUT UP YOU MORON! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! I'M NOT BEING ABUSED! JUST STOP WITH YOUR FALSE ACCUSATIONS AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" She ended in a fierce sob, her arms being to tired to pound anymore. Indeed, she was an emotional mess.

Forgetting whom it was that she was crying on, she grabbed onto his blazer and clung to it, still a crying mess.

Seto didn't know how to react. He had never in all of his life dealt with this sort of thing. And he never, in a million years thought he would: much less it being Tea Gardner that was clinging to him.

Yet, somewhere in the involuntary part of his mind, his arms instinctively snaked their way around her back, and he rubbed it slowly, trying to calm her down.

And never in a million years had he expected to do just that.

I'm the only one here for her, he sided, not Yugi, or the mutt…or his lackey (Tristan)…just me, Seto thought. He felt sort of…responsible. Yes…he felt responsible for making her feel better.

His hands slowly worked p her back, until one of them was slowly massaging her head, while the other one was rubbing her upper back.

Seto looked out the window. It was still stained with the rains, and the darkness of night. After all, he reminded himself, by looking at the clock; it was just past two in the morning.

He felt Tea's grip on his jacket lessen. He looked down and saw that she had fallen into a fitful sleep. Well, he certainly couldn't move her off for the time being, so he would just have to stay like this. But it wasn't the most uncomfortable position ever. Actually, it seemed quite nice, really…. And little did Seto know that part of that comfort had come from Tea just lying there upon him….

Well! There's the next chapter! Did you like it? I hope so! Sorry, it's a little short, but it qualified! AT LEAST IT'S AN UPDATE! Anywho, you know, most of this idea was just spontaneous! Really, the only part I had truly thought out BEFORE writing it was the first two or three paragraphs. I thought I would start this abusive thing later…oh well! We're in Ch. 8…good enough. Heck, Tea hasn't even admitted it all to Seto, IF she has anything to admit! (You're all probably looking at the screen thinking that the writer is absolutely stupid). Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chappie! PLEASE REVIEW!