Disclaimer: Yuck, I hate doing these things. ...I guess everyone knows what this means. Not mine.

A/N: This chapter isn't like I wanted it to be! I tried to make it good, but it didn't turn out like I had hoped. It was hard working on the parts with the project- I wasn't sure if I should just say they worked on it, or if I should put some of the stuff. I sort of compromised. And sorry for the overly-described library. I'm a writing-and book- geek. Alright, I just hope you enjoy. Here's chapter four!

chapter Four:

Desperation.
The unending feeling of sweet and cool
Oblivion.
When he knows he's fallen just as far as he can go.
But it can't be helped.
It just feels...
So...
Good.

(Back to the Flashback)

Chemistry Project- Seto and Tea-
Day One:

After much coaxing, cajoling, and an excessive use of puppy-dog eyes, Mokuba convinced his older brother to waste his precious, valuable, (you can be sure the list went on...) time on Tea and their schoolwork. It took effort, but the colossal task was managed in the end. Which was how Tea found herself in a luxurious limo with the two Kaiba brothers, listening half-attentively to the littlest one chatter away excitedly. She wasn't pleased- grimly content perhaps that her grade wouldn't suffer, but not happy by any stretch of the imagination. No, she could think of a hundred other ways she'd rather be spending her time, but it didn't look like she could get out of her predicament in favor of even one.

Naturally, when she had talked to her friends over the phone earlier, Joey had been the first to console her. He was absolutely heart-broken, he said, over missing that day of school. After a few dozen threats of intense bodily harm, her anger had subsided and she had- reluctantly- forgiven him. It wasn't his fault Kaiba was a jerk. He had gotten stuck with Yugi and Tristan, so she could take comfort in the fact that they would screw-up the thing and get one of the lowest grades in the class. But those thoughts weren't very nice at all, so she patiently pushed them aside, and voiced instead her jealousy at his good fortune.

Sitting there, Seto had to wonder what he had done to deserve his fate. Hadn't it been enough that he hadn't yet been able to beat Yugi? (The stolen victory at Duelist's Kingdom- unfortunately- not really counting) Hadn't it been enough that he had to endure his adoptive father's torment for years? No. The fates really hated him. For he had to be put under the hammer once again- in a horribly matched partnership with Tea Gardener, that friendship loving harpy. He really couldn't stand her. Guardedly, he watched Mokuba easily strike up any topic of conversation with her, their easy banter light and fun. He despised fun- most of the time anyway. He couldn't help but hate the fact that his brother liked her. There was no way he would put up with her otherwise. Why, oh why, did she have to be so wonderful in his momentarily delirious little brother's eyes?

None too soon, they arrived.

"I'll show you where the library is!" Mokuba exclaimed excitedly, taking the girl's hand and leading her inside. "Seto, why don't you get some snacks or something. I don't want you two to get worn out from all that studying!"

Grumpily, he ignored his brother's comments, and stalked after them instead. Treating him like that- like some overly concerned parent- was ridiculous.

Mokuba, Tea decided, really liked to talk. He kept up his line of chatter all the way to the room he was leading her to. Bewilderedly, she let herself be pushed inside, and with a smile, and a promise to play when the work was done, the young boy disappeared- as though he had only been in her mind.

She took quick note of her surroundings. The room was exquisite, a testament to the wonders of having money- and knowing how to use it. There were so many books; each volume bound in beautiful leather, resting on its perch ready and eager to be read. She could tell instantly which were favorites. Some stood out, shiny and clean, tiny particles of dust beginning to settle around them. Those were just superfluous additions to fill the room. There were others however, that looked like they had been read over and over again. There were ones that were bent, ones that proudly showed their wear, and ones thrust carefully together on a shelf, easily within reach to even the shortest of literary patrons.

It really was a library- a vision that would forever stay in her mind whenever that word entered into any conversation. A table, with a hanging lamp over it, was shoved proudly on one side, a few books and some paperwork resting upon its weary top. On the far side, two big leather chairs looking fit to swallow a careless reader up, warmly offered companionship to a royal-looking leather couch. It was dark and inviting, and had she dared to go over and run her hand across it she was sure it would feel cool and comforting. A coffee table beside it boasted proudly of a stack of magazines, a mug that was probably empty, and an open expensive-looking laptop. A blanket crowned the couch, and she was sure she knew who had unknowingly taken possession of the room.

"Well," an annoyed voice said behind her, "what are you waiting for? You were so damn eager to get over here, the least you could do is show that kind of enthusiasm for the work."

Tea turned around swiftly to see Kaiba sitting down at the table, book and binder in his arm. Sighing, she followed suit, her mind screaming warnings and apprehensions at her every second it took to grab a seat.

Things- to put it lightly- did not go well. They argued over half the time she was there, neither one willing to yield to their enemy. Ideas were (very nearly literally) thrown, but it seemed any decision would never be reached. Tea offered her data, but he was sure that she hadn't copied down the figures correctly. Sneeringly offering her his own numbers, he made scathing remarks on the importance of accuracy and precision. Not about to go down without a fight, she fiercely argued that she could look at measurements just as well as he could. (Had they taken the time to look, they both would have seen their information was the same. Alas, poor fighting protagonists...)

"Look Kaiba," Tea said hotly, "I don't see why you have to be so unreasonable. I'm not an idiot."

"Could have fooled me," he replied harshly, with an unkind sneer stuck upon his face.

"Shut up! I hate working with you; you are the most difficult man on the planet."

"Oh, and I'm enjoying this so much. Honestly, why did you even expect me to cooperate in the first place? I specifically told you that I did not- under any circumstance- wish to work with you on this project. You insisted upon it, unfairly bringing my innocent younger brother into your conniving schemes. You've brought this fate upon yourself, as well as upon me. Really, you're such a simpleton. Couldn't even predict how well this would work out."

Oh, that did it. Tea smelled a challenge. "I don't care what you say. Even if you do hurt my feelings, I won't care! And I'm going to make this work! Even if I do have to spend time with your pig-headed, stubborn, egotistical, mean, bullying, sorry ass!"

Hearing yells, Mokuba had come to investigate. Opening the door, he peeked in to try and calm the two down, when Tea brushed past him, her manner bristling and dark. "Tell your brother that- whether he likes it or not- I'll be back in three days. He better cancel anything he has then, or call me to reschedule. You're a great kid, Mokuba, I hope to spend some time with you at a later date."

Watching the girl go in amazement, he finally spoke. "Big brother, just what did you do to piss her off so bad?"

Chemistry Project- Seto and Tea-
Day Two:

As it turned out, Seto was free on the specified day. He, however, was not as happy about that as Mokuba seemed to be. What his little brother saw in the girl, he would never know, but it always served to annoy him.

They sent they limo to pick her up again, though this time the two brothers stayed at home. Mokuba was jumping around in excitement, and blabbering away on how happy he was to be seeing Tea again.

"You need to be nice to her big brother," he told Seto only minutes before the scheduled time of her arrival. "After all, she's my friend; I bet if you let her she would be your friend too."

"I don't need friends. Especially friends like her." He gave an exaggerated shiver. "The very thought repulses me."

Mokuba took a big bite out of the candy bar he was eating. "Ok, so I guess you don't like her too much."

"No. You really think?"

Mokuba went on as though he hadn't been interrupted. "But! This school project is very important." He narrowed his eyes and gave his brother a very parental look. "And you don't want your grades to suffer, now do you Seto?"

(It might be important to note that at that very moment in the conversation, Tea arrived, and was standing in the kitchen doorway listening to- and watching- the two)

Feeling in a good enough mood to play along, Seto put on a fake higher-pitched voice. "Oh, of course not Mokuba. I promise to do my best to get the very highest grades. I'm such a good, responsible boy after all."

Mokuba crossed his arms over his chest and nodded seriously. "Right. Right. Which is exactly the reason why you must get along with the lovely Ms. Gardener."

Seto snorted in rather mirthful disbelief. "Lovely? I would sooner call that mutt she hangs out with intelligent. Besides... she might whip out one of those patented- and eternally annoying- friendship speeches and use it on me." He closed his eyes and shook his head in fake horror. "It could scar me for life."

Mokuba dropped his serious act and giggled loudly. "Scar you? Oh come on, Seto, she's not that bad at all."

In an impressive display of playfulness, a trait that was very rare in the man, Seto continued. "And just what if it rubs off on me? Do you really want a big brother spouting off togetherness nonsense and going around giving random-" he looked almost pained. "-hugs? I can hardly bear to imagine it. I'll be skipping and throwing out daisies from a wicker basket before I ever get along with her, kid."

True to the Kaiba name, Mokuba was sporting a distinctly devilish grin. "Well you better get out those daisies Seto, because Tea's here." He jumped off the counter he had been sitting on, and skipped over to her. "Hi Tea!"

Seto glanced over to the two with a nasty-looking scowl on his face. Tea's eyes met his, and he was most displeased to see her grinning and trying hard to contain laughter that was threatening to burst out. He couldn't believe she hadn't even bothered to announce her present, and though he was loath to admit it, he was rather apprehensive about how long she had been standing there.

Gruffly- really, he was more embarrassed than he would have liked to admit- he said, "Do you have your books Gardener?" She nodded. "Good. Let's get this damn thing over with."

Once again, Tea found herself in the Kaiba brothers' library. She couldn't help but admire it once again, the only thing marring it the grim looking figure hulking in one of the chairs at the table. Wondering if he was going to be as amiable as he was last time, she took a seat, and pulled out her notes.

After a moment or two of quiet, she decided that she needed to break the ice. "So, you and Mokuba really get along well, don't you?"

He looked up quickly, a dark sort of scowl spread across his face. "Yes, though I don't see how that's any of your business."

"You're right, it's not. But you know how much I care about Mokuba, so I can't help but be interested in him. And it was so cute the way you two were playing around together in the kitchen before I got here." She couldn't help the little chuckle that escaped. "Ahh, brotherly love."

He hoped he hadn't flinched. So she had seen him being less than intimidating and vengeful. Oh well; it couldn't be helped. He'd just have to make sure she knew he wasn't the kind of person you could tease or mess around with. "There are many words that one could use to describe me. But if there was ever just a single one that had to be chosen, it sure as hell wouldn't be 'cute'."

She rolled her eyes and laughed again. "You're right. You are definitely not cute. But your brother is. He's positively adorable." She giggled happily. "And I bet even you couldn't deny it."

"Just shut up and get to work."

A loud sigh. "Whatever, Kaiba."

Things were even more awkward then than they had been the previous study-session. He couldn't concentrate, though he was careful not to ever let her see that. Not only did her mere presence bother him, the way she threw herself so totally into her work annoyed him as well. She hadn't looked up once in at least forty-five minutes, she was so totally focused. And that bothered him, because it was normally a quality he admired. Being a rather hyper-focused sort of guy himself, he couldn't help but grudgingly give credit to others who possessed the trait as well. It drove him insane that there was even one thing about her that he didn't hate.

The truth was though, that he didn't know all that much about her. She was Yugi's friend and constant tag-along. She was really big on friendship. She bothered him, and she liked interfering. That... well, that was about it. He wondered if there was something he could be missing. So he wasn't the best judge of people (trusting the Big Five... not his finest hour). That didn't bother him. He rarely- if ever- cared about them enough to actually get to know them. He could gather what he needed: if a person was honest, if they were intelligent, those things he could almost always see immediately.

Gardener wasn't something that had ever really interested him. She bothered him. She was like a rock in his shoe, a splinter in his palm, or an itch he couldn't scratch whenever she was around. Admittedly, she could stand up to him- to a lot of people actually. That was a quality he couldn't hate as well.

He nonchalantly glanced over to her. She was working diligently, head bent over her work, her face contorted in earnest thought. He silently scoffed- he hadn't suspected to see a scholarly side of her, she had always presented a sort of air-headedness to him. Yes, she was in the top classes at school, but he had never really accredited any real intelligence to her. He knew- though he hated the fact that it was true- that she was smart. She seemed useless, and like she was only in class to waste oxygen. In fact, the only thing she did manage to do well was fill out that ridiculously small school uniform.

... (a brief interlude of obliviousness)

It took him a few moments to realize exactly what had just passed through his mind. 'Snap out of it,' he told himself angrily. 'This is Gardener. She's an annoying bitch- not even the least bit attractive. You need to concentrate; this work is easy. You should already be finished.'

But the task of concentrating was much easier said than done. He was the picture of outward calm, cool composure, but inside he was restless. That day just wasn't good for him. He had been swamped at work; after the new and improved duel disk system, there hadn't been any great demand for a new product and so some of the company had become rather lax. But the corporate world was a competitive one, and rumors of new, more advanced products had reached KaibaCorp's ears.

Being the CEO was a very satisfying task, but it held great responsibilities, and ultimately made his life permanently stressful. Things really had to pick up, or they would be in trouble. Not just something small that they could recover from in time. No, if the company's prospects didn't improve, there was the possibility of a huge collapse, destroying the very foundation of all that he had worked so hard to make strong. As could be expected from such a situation, his mind was quite occupied.

Of course, the danger could easily be done away with, as long as they worked hard. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to worry about it. And added to that was the stress of school, and now because of school Gardener's unnecessary interference in his life. Well, suffice it to say, he had a lot on his plate. The project they were doing wasn't really as simple as he said, but with his brilliant mind the work was no trouble.

Suddenly, a voice snapped him out of the realm of thought, and back to reality. "Um, Kaiba?" Tea asked timidly, hoping he wouldn't snap at her. "Do you have question five answered?" He looked down at his paper. He did.

"Of course I do." A suspicious frown. "Why?"

"Well I can't figure it out. Let me see your paper."

"No, do your own work."

"I can't if I don't understand it! Come one, at least help me get it right."

He didn't respond, and instead pretended to keep working. Not, of course, that he had really been working in the first place.

With an exasperated sigh, she stood up with her paper. "Fine, then I'm going over there to see how to work it." And she did. She walked over to the other side of the table and stood behind him. Placing an innocent hand on his warm shoulder, she leant over to get a better look at his work. "So, how did you get the answer?"

He mumbled something that sounded a lot like "idiot". He glanced upwards to glare at her, but she wasn't looking at him. She flipped through his work, trying to find the right equation. "It's just conversion," he said finally, growing perturbed with her closeness and wanting to get her away. "All you have to do is calculate the mass in mols."

"But I don't remember how to do that!"

He almost growled at her apparent stupidity. "We were taught how to do that at the beginning of the year." She didn't answer. "Do you remember the chart that the teacher showed us?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her nod. "Then just do that. It's absurdly simple."

He shoved a piece of paper off to the side so she could see what he was talking about. "Oh. Ok, I guess I was just trying to make it harder than it was. Now let me check the rest of my work to make sure I've gotten it right so far." Appealing to his ego she said, "After all, I'm sure you would never get a problem wrong."

"Of course I did it correctly," he snapped, getting more annoyed by her action. He was tense, and it irritated him that he cared enough to be bothered. He wasn't sure if she noticed or not, but the slight grin on her face was almost proof that she did, and that it amused her to know she could affect him.

His shoulders were tight from her hand resting there, and absently she began to drum her fingers on the one she was touching. Again, she asked him something about one of the problems, and he responded automatically, not giving much thought to what she said. She herself was too distracting for him to think much about anything. He wasn't sure if it was a game or not, but he wasn't going to back down and give her the satisfaction of knowing she'd "won". So until he did something to get under her skin- which he would very soon- they were stuck at a solid stalemate.

He turned towards her, intent on giving her a scathing insult concerning her inability to grasp the concepts of their work, but his mind was abruptly shut down. When she was leaning over like that, he could see straight down her shirt. And it bothered him that he didn't seem to want to look away. It bothered him that what he did seem to want to do was rip that shirt off and-

'No! Damn it Seto, get a grip on yourself. That's already two inappropriate thoughts concerning Gardener, and that is two too many. She's female, so naturally she's going to have... correct female anatomy. You don't like her, so don't waste your time thinking about her.'

Having noticed his increased state of agitation, she suddenly asked, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," he answered sharply, finally deciding to shrug her hand away from him. "Now do you think that your tiny brain can work this out by yourself? After all, I'm sure even Mokuba could handle something of this level."

She put her hands on her hips and gave him a nasty look. "Just shut up Kaiba. I'm smart enough to hold my own, and you know it. So what if I had a bit of trouble with one problem? Doesn't make me an idiot and you know it!"

With a decided huff, she sat down again, resolutely avoiding his gaze. He had to suppress a smirk that was threatening to spill out. It was so much fun to argue with her; she knew how to defend herself. Getting her angry was one activity that always amused him, and he had to admit, it did seem to give him some sort of compensation for her annoying attitude. Her eyes would blaze, and she'd set her face in that angry looking pout and her whole aura would bristle up. That would explain his sudden irrational attraction to her, he thought suddenly. Good. He still didn't like her. It was just the way she'd get so worked up when he'd be mean; that just amused him. It wasn't like that energy around her, that fiery glare she'd give him, was a real turn on.

'Damn it. That's three.'

After about another hour, both teens decided it was time to finish up. Tea stood and stretched. "Well, we got a lot of work done, so I guess it's time for me to go. It's getting late anyway. I don't think we could really do anymore today anyway, do you?"

Without looking at her, he shook his head. "You should go. We're done here."

Rolling her eyes at his brusque manner, she gathered together her book and papers. "We still have a little bit more to finish, though. I guess we can set up another time to work a little later."

He noticed then that she wasn't moving- or to put it more correctly, she wasn't leaving. She was looking around the table with a frown, as though there was something that was supposed to be there that was missing. As impatient as usual, he barked, "Hurry up. What's your problem?"

"Hold on, you jerk, I can't find my pencil." Just then, she spotted it lying under the table. "Ahh! Here it is." As she bent over to get it, he really, really didn't mean to stare. Really.

She stood up quickly, holding up the pencil proudly. Just, in fact, in time to hear him growl and mutter under his breath, "Fifty-four. Damn."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kaiba? Fifty-four what?" If she didn't know better, she'd swear he looked embarrassed when she asked him that. But that just couldn't be right.

He glared fiercely at her, and for a moment she was sure that his stare could melt a solid block of ice. Even though his eyes looked cold, he could radiate warmth like a raging fire. If only he wasn't so grumpy all the time, that warmth could be used for good instead of evil. With a grin on her face because of that last thought, she walked out of the library and waved at him for a goodbye. "I'll see you at school, Kaiba. Oh, and you better not try and blow me off; we still have to finish this."

On her way out, she ran into Mokuba. "Hey Tea! Are you and big brother done? Why don't you stay and hang out for a little while? I just got this really cool video game, and Seto's been kinda busy so he couldn't play but I bet you'd really like it and-"

She stemmed the flow of language by an upraised hand. "Slow down there Mokuba. I'd love to stay and hang out with you, but I really do need to be getting home. Maybe next time, OK?"

He nodded, head hung down in disappointment. "Next time." But he was happy again in an instant, and he looked up at her with a smile. "And I'll hold you to that, Tea!"

She laughed and gave him a swift hug. "Goodbye Mokuba. I've got to go. See you soon." And she left, leaving a cheerful, excited boy and a confused, rather frustrated man behind.

End A/N: I hope that was up to standard; I'm not too happy with it. Anyway, thanx for reading. Oh, and if anyone cares to make a suggestion on what one of the other 50 naughty thoughts Seto was, please be my guest. Leave a review; I'd love to hear what you think.

I.L.B.