Disclaimer: I don't know what you've heard, but yugioh still doesn't belong to me.

A/N: Here's chapter five! Yah! I'm excited; I think this chapter will be the best yet! Not nearly as much dialogue as I usually include, so the tone may seem just a bit different. Thank you to everyone who reviewed; you reallyhelped inspire me to keep working! Nowwithout further ado...the chapter is here!

chapter Five:
Falling-
the sensation is overwhelming you.
Everything washes over you in waves
of delicious, divine feeling.
Hyper sensitive.
An elusive breath of air is finally in your grasp.
All you have to do is
fall.
Let yourself go.
Suspended in a sea of lovely, deep
sensation.
It will carry you away.
Just be careful,
or you might never want to leave.

xxx

"I'm really sorry about that Tea," Joey said quickly, handing over a slice of warm, greasy pizza as a peace offering."But you've already forgiven me... right?"

She sighed. "Yes Joey. I've forgiven you." She grabbed the pizza from him and grinned. "After all, if you're offering me food, then I know you're sorry."

Yugi laughed. "You're right Tea. Joey, giving up food willingly? It's a miracle."

"Way to stick it to a guy when he's down Yug. I said I was sorry already." He paused for a moment. "Hey! And I do not eat that much."

Tristan snickered. "Sure... whatever you say man. Whatever you say."

The four friends were all hanging out together at some nondescript teenage hangout, complete with the fattening food, the arcade games and all. It was a lazy weekend afternoon, with all their schoolwork hanging over them completely forgotten. They were there to have fun- not think about anything depressing or boring.

But they were forced to put an end to their enjoyment far too soon. Tea and Yugi went together one way, and Joey and Tristan were all too eager to go another- probably headed to Joey's house for more inane- but fun- madness.

Hesitantly, Yugi brought up the subject that had been the cause of Joey's misery- misery caused entirely at Tea's hand. "So... working with Kaiba really isn't that bad, is it?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't have anything too heinous to report.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, as though thinking carefully over her reply. After a moment she said, "Yes. It's just as bad as I thought it would be."

Heartily, they laughed together. "I wish that he would just give us a chance," Yugi said. "I'm sure that he could use a friend."

Tea scoffed. "Him? Oh, no, how could the great and powerful Seto Kaiba EVER need someone other than himself? You're crazy Yugi. The other inhabitants of this planet are far too beneath him." She held her hand to her forehead dramatically. "Why, we don't even deserve to stand in the shadow cast by his greatness."

Yugi couldn't help but laugh, though he felt he had to gently admonish her. "I don't think sarcasm is going to help very much."

She feigned righteous indignation. "Sarcasm? My dear sir, I was being utterly sincere." He looked her in the eye with amused disbelief, and she responded in kind with a cheeky grin. "Alright. So maybe a little." She held up her hand in the universal gesture indicating a small amount. "Just a tiny bit sarcastic."

Yugi rolled his eyes, and they laughed together, neither imagining a better way to spend the day than with a good friend.

(Back to the Future... er, Present)

Sunlight rolled in through the big windows, streaming across the big bed and the body that was resting in it. With a groan, he blinked open unwilling eyes. He glanced quickly at his alarm clock, and saw that it was still early. He threw the offending piece of machinery to the floor with a soft BAM, and rolled over again to try and catch a few more quick snippets of sleep.

But his hazy mind-frame was shattered when his brain snagged on a little-known but VERY pertinent fact. It was an important day. A very important day actually. He groaned again, unhappy that any plans he had for more rest had just been abruptly thrown out the proverbial window.

He wasn't nervous; his nature didn't cater well to apprehension or fear. Instead, he was calmly... awaiting the deciding moment. And he was hoping, as much as he would allow himself to hope, for a favorable outcome. He wasn't anxious. He wasn't excited. He was calm and cool and ready for whatever might happen.

Oh that's right, he wasn't even eager. He didn't care if she received him with open arms or if she shunned him with a white-hot fury. It wasn't a big deal. The thoughts had barely even scratched him mind.

He sighed. Blatantly lying to himself did help boost his confidence, but the achy pain in his chest told him the real, whole truth. Love was practically foreign to him. Aside from Mokuba, (and his parents he supposed) there had never been anyone in his life that he could love. So the sentiment was forgotten. Cast-aside. He discarded it like an wrapper- a useless and meaningless emotion he had risen above. But when she came along, that changed. The butterflies that had lain dormant in his stomach arose with a vengeance, his heart's propensity to beat hard and rapid against his ribs had increased ten-fold, and that useless emotion he had sworn off so long ago, had tangled him up and sunk its claws in so deep he couldn't force them out without destroying himself in the process.

She was his goddess; in his mind, she was the quintessence of beauty, of grace. Without knowing, he let out a wistful sigh. He hadn't meant to ever care for her. Hell, he hadn't ever meant to even like the girl. Perhaps not hating, but at least definitely disliking everything about her would have suited him just fine. But that changed. She drew him in with a quality he still couldn't describe. She was his everything- his oxygen. His reason for...

He frowned and shook his head. No, he didn't need her that badly. He was infatuated, that much he could readily admit. She had captured his attention. Captured, held it hostage, and then never gave it back again. But he had other reasons for living. Power and Mokuba being two particularly prominent ones.

Trying to clear his mind of all that nonsense, he stalked into the bathroom and took a quick shower. He got dressed and ate some rather tasteless, formless conglomeration of breakfast. He was pleased to see that his incorruptible mind-frame was firmly back in place, and he was no longer a sentimental fool. No, he was a man with a mission.

The time of his departure arrived shortly after that. He gathered his things, hesitating for half a second before grabbing the rose. He had to give it to her; she was worth it, and... he cringed as he thought it, but she deserved to know how he felt. She didn't need to be in a relationship with some obsessed, love-sick eccentric if she didn't feel the same way. And HE didn't deserve to be stuck in a one-sided relationship. If she didn't reciprocate his most fragile, forbidden feelings, then he was determined to forget about her. And never let himself love again.

(Ooh... FLASHBACK!)

Chemistry Project- Seto and Tea-

Day Three:

They argued even more than they had done the previous days. Combined. Seto knew why; his temper was even shorter than usual. He hadn't wanted to see her again, not after the last time. He couldn't forgive himself for thinking such... thoughts about her. It was wrong. Completely, utterly, absolutely wrong. She wasn't worthy of inspiring such fantasies; she wasn't even worthy of entering his mind at all. But she had invaded it. He had thought about her more than he had ever wanted to.

Being of such a high intellect, and in addition to that a program designer, he was used to breaking things down, analyzing them, isolating the problem, then putting them back together again. Well he had picked apart all the things he knew about her and had thought about her and come to one, logical conclusion: there was no logical conclusion!

He could think of no reason he was feeling that way. The notion that he just might find her attractive never crossed his mind. He didn't even know the girl; she was just some waste of flesh that hung around his biggest rival. Seto simply couldn't -and he wouldn't- believe that he could have possible fallen victim to the most common of teenage ailments: having a crush.

Gardener wasn't worth his time. Really. He told himself that over and over again, in an attempt to innoculate himself against any more wondering thoughts that might pop up. They were working in silence, her face wearing a rather sullen expression; he almost laughed knowing he was the cause of it. His concentration seemed to have returned though, and for that he was grateful. As long as he kept his eyes on the paper in front of him, there wouldn't be a problem.

Tea was in a similar predicament. She hadn't come quite as abruptly to her realizations as he had, but they still shocked her. He had irritated her greatly earlier- she was starting to suspect that he did it on purpose- and her annoyance was a great excuse to stay quiet and not try to force conversation. It gave her time to focus and organize her thoughts.

For a long time, ever since the first time she had seen him actually, she had known he was attractive. But spending so much time with him, alone, and in close quarters, awakened her to the fact that he was not just attractive- he was pretty damn gorgeous. She had eyes. And even though Joey would have a heart attack if he ever heard her say it, she had to admit that the fact was undeniably true.

It wasn't just that, though. He seemed different somehow; less like the bad guy and more like an ordinary person- if, of course, a teenage CEO with ridiculous amounts of money and a high IQ could ever be called ordinary. He was rude; he was rather mean. That was a given. But he wasn't being downright cruel, and she had seen him have a large capacity for cruelty a fair few times before. He projected confidence, but almost since they had started the project, he had seemed a little nervous. Though the two had never had a real conversation, she couldn't help but feel slightly more attuned to him, and less of one of his enemies.

Seto glanced up at her for a moment, angry with the girl for making him rethink himself. He didn't need to engage in pointless adolescent frivolities like dating, and as such women were hardly ever on his mind. Now, he could appreciate a good figure when he saw one, but only on a rather subconscious, primal level. Work was the closest thing to a significant other that he felt he would ever need. But now, with Gardener's unknowing interference, he found himself thinking in a rather stereotypical teenage male way. And it pissed him off to no end.

Alright, so by then he was able to admit to himself that she was pleasing to look at. Like a painting, he thought, and that thought made him feel one hell of a lot better about thinking her attractive at all. But there were other things too, that couldn't be construed in any other way than pure desire. He had caught himself staring at her mouth earlier, captivated by the way she bit her lip when she was thinking over a particularly hard problem. Then he had shocked himself further by indulging in a momentary wondering of how good a kisser she might be. How talented that mouth that constantly vexed him might actually be.

But that was not safe territory at all, and with a glare directed at nothing in particular- save his disobedient mind- he switched trains of thought directly.

His mind might have been rock-solid and under control, but his body was not. Maybe he could blame hormones and suppressed- very suppressed, some part of his mind couldn't help but add- sexual urges for his straying thoughts. He didn't want to make excuses, but there was no forgiving the outrageous ideas that Gardener had inspired.

'This is extremely frustrating,' he thought to himself, 'I wish we could get this damn project finished so she could hurry up and leave. I don't like having her near me- this is making me crazy.' He sighed. "Maybe I just need to get laid."

"Did you say something Kaiba?"

He immediately panicked. 'Shit. Do not tell me I just said that out loud.' He scowled and looked up at her with the most intimidating expression he could muster. "No."

She looked thoughtful. "Huh. I guess it was my imagination."

'Good. She didn't hear what I said.' He came very, very close to sighing in relief. Luckily, he held it in. He shot her a heated glance, just to make sure that she wasn't trying to trick him to embarrass him later. She must have felt his eyes on her, because she quickly looked up. When she met his gaze though, she blushed and immediately looked back down. He noticed her blush, and got his own sort of twisted amusement out of it. Perhaps he wasn't the only one who felt that barrier of inescapable, illicit tension that enveloped them after all...

And with that rather pleasing thought, Seto, in his own mind, had gained the upper hand.

The room was oppressively warm. And small. She felt trapped- locked in a cage with a dangerous, hungry predator. The heat was coming from him- radiating off him like he was some twisted, eternal sun. She shivered, a reflex reaction from the tension in the atmosphere.

And she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to leave.

The way he looked at her sent chills down her spine. He looked at her... oh, he looked at her like she was the only thing in the room. That piercing, decisive gaze made her feel so, so significant. Other guys ignored her; she was pretty- beautiful even- but Yugi and the boys tended to scare off any potential interests. Her love life was practically nonexistent, and the way Kaiba was looking at her made her think that just maybe she was attractive, just maybe she was worth a man's attention. Just maybe she was worth his attention.

Yes, they were veritable enemies. They had never really gotten along; he wasn't even one of the good guys! But maybe he'd changed. No, she was just making excuses for her feelings. He hadn't changed at all. But maybe she understood him better. Maybe she had changed just a little. Maybe deep down, he was a guy worth her time. Or maybe... He was just hot and she wanted him SO badly.

"Gardener," a voice snapped suddenly, breaking her out of her self-induced haze. "What's your problem? You're spacing out and daydreaming again."

Tea had to fight off the natural reaction to blush; she had been daydreaming alright, but the content and subject of said daydreams were not something she wanted to bring up around Kaiba. Especially because he was their main focus.

Internally she winced. She was actually daydreaming about him: about running her hands through his soft, silky hair; about the feel of cool skin beneath her fingertips; about the taste she was sure was so absolutely divine as he kissed her desperately...

Again she fought back her face's betrayal. He would certainly know something was up if her cheeks were burning red. It was insane- irrational. Utterly ridiculous. A sick feeling rose in the pit of her stomach. She shouldn't be feeling that way about him. He was rude; he was mean. He was a stuck-up, arrogant prick. Not to mention cold and cruel. And... and horrible.

She sighed as she ran out of adjectives.

"Aren't you going to even acknowledge that I'm speaking to you?" he asked sharply. His voice was harsh and hard, and thankfully not at all capable of reducing her to a pile of goo. She could fight him; she wasn't going to give in.

"Sorry," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "Like you said, I just spaced out. We have to get this done, I know, but I'm just so... tired of it all." A sigh of relief- that had been pretty damn close to the truth, and she hadn't blown it at all.

He pushed a hand up into his heavy bangs, sweeping them out of his eyes. "As much as I hate to admit that something you said has even the most microscopic grain of truth to it, perhaps it is time to take a break."

She was struck dumb for a moment. He was admitting... she was... right? No, that just didn't happen. Ever.

Searching for something to respond to that with, she managed to spit out "Um... what?"

Kaiba looked at her like she was an absolute idiot. He repeated himself slowly, enunciating each word carefully like she was just learning to speak. "A... break. Break, Gardener, break. A cessation of all school work, a stop to these wasted efforts on your part as you feign intelligence, discontinuing any brain activity, our pencils are laid down for a pause in this endless stream of writing. No more chemistry..."

She glared at him; REALLY glared at him.

"Shall I go on?"

"Bite me, asshole."

He smiled sardonically. "Such a classy young lady you are, Gardener."

"Whatever." She leaned her chair back, thankful her mind was finally leaving forbidden territory. As long as she didn't think about him, she wouldn't want to rip his clothes off.

'Ooh,' she thought with another wince, 'That sounds really bad.' She had never been the type of girl who chased guys just to get in their pants. Her experience with the opposite sex was sadly lacking, and apart from her friends she hardly spent any time with the male gender at all. Actually, apart from her three best friends, she hardly spent any time with anybody.

Suddenly a bushy head of hair popped through the door. "Sorry," Mokuba said to them with a grin, "But I couldn't help over hearing you two. So you're going to take a break?"

His brother rolled his eyes and then nodded.

"Great! Come on Tea, you can play a game or something with me. Yah! I finally have somebody to play with me." He paused then, momentarily unsure. "It is alright if she does, right big brother? She said she would last time she came over." Mokuba put on the puppy dog eyes.

"Whatever," Seto said irritably. "As long as we get back to work in half an hour."

Mokuba gave a salute. "Yes, sir!" And he grabbed Tea's hand and led her away.

Half an hour wasn't nearly enough time to cool the two down. At least they weren't in the same room, Tea mused happily. She really wasn't sure if she could take much more of that.

She and Mokuba played his new playstation game for as the full thirty minutes, the girl losing rather miserably. She stood and stretched. "Well, good game Mokuba. I guess I had better head back so your brother and I can finish that stupid chemistry crap we're working on." He laughed, a young, pleasant sound.

"Ok Tea. Just don't let him work you too hard, alright?"

"Don't worry Mokuba, I won't."

Tea meandered her way back to the library, expecting to find an impatient and scolding Kaiba awaiting her. But as she cautiously opened the door, she saw no one there. That is until she heard soft snoring coming from the other side of the room.

He was sprawled haphazardly across the big leather couch, stealing a quick nap. She fought off the urge to giggle. Quietly, she tip-toed over to him, hoping to wake him up and get back at him for all the cracks he had made about her. But when she saw him up close, it took her breath away.

If it was possible, he looked even more beautiful sleeping. He looked peaceful and calm, the worried creases in his face from his perpetual scowl all smoothed away. He even looked almost like he was smiling. Her hand tentatively reached over towards him, about to shake him into consciousness. Before she reached him though, he let out a low moan. She immediately snatched her hand away.

Blood pounded in her ears; that had to be the sexiest sound she had ever heard in her life. If she had thought he was attractive before, well he just went up ten times in her estimation. He was practically perfection right there in front of her. Her face heated up at a quick, devious idea. She wanted to touch him; he was asleep, he'd never know.

Tea's hand was about six inches away from his cheek when his eyes snapped open. "Gardener?" he asked slowly, his voice thick with sleep. "What the hell are you doing?"

She couldn't help but blush. "Um, you were asleep. And... I found you here, so I was going to wake you up so we could get back to work."

He closed his eyes and groaned again.

She coughed lowly out of nervousness; she wasn't sure she had ever been that close to him before. It was then he noticed the way she looked: her dark, glazed-over eyes, her flushed face, and the tense way she was sitting on top of the coffee table. He smirked. He had just woken up, so anything he did could be blamed on sleep-induced insanity. "What's the matter?" he practically purred, pitching his voice a little lower than normal.

Tea almost shivered as she looked up at him to answer. "N-nothing. Why do you ask?"

His smirk widened. "You look like you're blushing. Now why ever would you have reason to do something like that?"

She managed a half-hearted glare, face still red as a cherry. "You surprised me by waking up so quickly."

"There's no need to lie you know. Tell me why you're blushing." He sat up, subtly positioning himself a little closer to her. Oh, he was enjoying that. Strangely enough, he didn't hate himself for the way he was acting. Formerly, he would have rather kissed a dog- Joey excluded- than kiss her, but he found himself longing to do just that. Kiss her and kiss her until all his breath was gone. From the way she was acting, she seemed like she wanted the very same thing. It was wrong; but that only gave the situation a thrill of excitement that went coursing up his spine. If he played his cards right...

Tea looked at him, and was almost taken aback by his feverish, focused gaze. That heat was back, even stronger than before. He was looking at her like some dangerous predator about to devour its next meal; she could just picture him licking his lips hungrily. It hit her then- if he was looking at her like that, then obviously he was experiencing the same inner turmoil she was. "You're just playing with me, aren't you?" she asked hesitantly, leaning forward just a tiny bit.

"Of course I am. What did you think?"

They were so close then that she could see the little flecks of darker navy floating in his eyes. "What's happening?" she asked him in a heated whisper. "This isn't right."

"Damned if I don't know that." His hand came up and grabbed her chin, as his thumb ran slowly over her lips. That just about did her in for good.

"We- we need to finish the chemistry project," she said inarticulately, unable to think at all with him so close, and looking so delicious.

"We have something else that we need to finish first."

Everything after that really became just a blur.

End A/N: Heh, man am I evil. I bet you thought it was just about to get good, didn't you? Well, this is already ten pages, my longest chapter yet, so I thought I'd just save the next part for a quick, steamy, short sixth chapter. Don't forget to review on your way out!

I.L.B.