Chapter 4

The next morning everything was pretty quiet. Tea sat quietly in Yugi's apartment while he went to school.' smart kid' Tea thought. 'Why didn't I go back to school? Oh I'm so jealous' She sipped the green tea she had prepared, it was warm and felt good as she swallowed. A warm comforting feeling, which she needed right now. She sighed and looked around, getting pretty use to her surroundings, the strange home she had been staying at for the past few days. So use to it she felt like it was home, she didn't want to leave, but she had to leave.

'It won't hurt to stay awhile, I hope Shark wouldn't miss me for a few days'

She shuddered a bit at that thought. 'Shark..' Suddenly the oh so comforting tea she was drinking didn't taste as good as it did before, so she hastily drained it down the kitchen sink.

----

"Hey Tea I'm back" Yugi called out cheerfully as he placed his book-bag on the floor near the kitchen.

Silence. Yugi's stomach started to turn.

"Tea where are you?" he called again

Then he saw a familiar brunette head peep out form behind the bedroom walls, he breathed a sigh of relief. He thought she had left.

"Hi Yugi, sorry I was just cleaning up"

"Really wow thanks, I'm usually either too tired or lazy or busy to do house-work.

"Figures, typical guy" she smiled and stuck out her tongue playfully at him.

Yugi was glad, at least she look as though she was better, much better in spirits that is. He smiled back at her.

"Hey let's go out? You look you can use some new clothes and some fresh air"

Tea blushed a bit.

"Well uh.. I guess but I'm leaving so.. I don't wanna trouble you." 'hmm maybe I should go outside I don't even know in what location I am at, but then again what if I run into someone that knows Shark' She suddenly got knots in her stomach. Yugi noticed she seemed a bit less excited.
"What's up Tea don't you want to go outside" he said in a soft, quiet, disappointing tone. It was so adorable that tea couldn't turn him down.

"Oh no no I'm fine that's a great idea, but let's not stay outside too long okay?"

"Yes most definitely, as long as you get out of the house, you're looking a bit pale ya know"

'if only he knew why I was so pale' Tea thought to herself.
She looked down at her same old clothes. The ones that made her exactly who she was. A tight short, black leather skirt and her kinky strapless tank top. 'he's right I got to change out of these clothes. So they went out and had fun along the way. Tea was glad, he made her forget all her troubles. As a girl she would have much rather shopped with a gal pal, but Yugi was ok. They went to a huge shopping complex filled with nice boutiques and lovely things. Yugi insisted he pay for everything. Tea bought a completely new wardrobe of stuff, not any of those slutty skirts she usually wore but something that was a bit more conservative (

authors note: She always dressed slutty in the show anyways so not like it makes a diff, anyways moving on XD).

She tried on lots of nice clothes and even helped Yugi pick out some new stuff from himself. They were laughing and having fun as if they had known each other forever. That's what Tea couldn't understand, had they really known each other forever?

"Hey Tea let's go for a bite to eat, I'm famished," Yugi said.

"Yea definitely, I'm famished" Tea said smiling. But suddenly her smile just faded away.

A wave of panic swept through her like a dagger, as she saw someone staring at her. Not just staring but as though he was closely watching her and what made her heart skip a beat was that she felt as though she had seen him before. Then he just disappeared into the crowd.

"Tea what's wrong?" Yugi asked, his brows crossed in concern and confusion.

"Let's get out of her," Tea said quickly tugging on Yugi's arm, full of shopping bags.

Her heart continued pounding, she could hear it and swear Yugi could too. She was scared.

"Tea wait up what's wrong" Yugi demanded to know, however he was ignored.

'I know that guy, one of Shark's client's I just know it!' Tea thought. What if he is reporting back to Shark where I am? What if Shark would come for me?' All these different questions were spinning through her head, she felt dizzy and weak. She immediately plopped down to the nearest bench she and find and her hands immediately went to her head as she leaned over trying to catch her breath and get it together.

"Tea what happened? Please tea tell me what happened?" Yugi pleaded kneeling down infront of her pulling her wrists apart so he could get a clear view of her face. She looked pale, worried and even look like she broke out in a sweat.' Some thing must have frightened her, something she's not telling me'

"Tea this has got to stop right now, you are freaking me out. I need to know what it is that's bothering you. What exactly are you afraid of? Tea you need to trust me, we use to be the best of friends and we could have told each other anything. I've always kept your secrets I've never told anyone. You need to trust me now. What happened to all those friendship speeches you use to give me all the time. When times were tough, who should we always turn to? Have you forgotten that too?" Yugi tried his best to get through to Tea. He had to or else, well he didn't know what he'd do. Tea seemed to calm down a bit, but Yugi wasn't sure if she had actually heard what he said,or if he may have just gotten through to her. Tea's eyes met Yugi's. ' I'm so scared' she thought again. ' I can't keep hiding, I can't keep running forever. I need to tell someone'

"You promise not to tell anyone" tears welled in her eyes, she turned away she couldn't face him.

"Tea I swear" Yugi stood up.

"Well okay" She sniffed trying to wipe to wipe away as much tears as she could from her eyes. She looked around carefully, then grabbed Yugi's arm.

"Not here" she said. " Let's go somewhere else. Tea swore she kept a tight grip on Yugi's hand all the way home. She was eager to get whatever she had to say off her chest. They sat down on the dinning room table. Yugi pushed all his project papers and study books aside so they could have room.

"Ok Tea I'm listening" Yugi said almost below a whisper. Tea's hand clasped over her mouth and took a deep breath. She wanted to say something but didn't know where to start.

"It's ok Tea, no matter what happens I'm always going to be here to help you, I swear it"

"Ok Yugi" She mumbled a bit." Well it all began I guess, when my parents died I had no where to go, I had no idea what I was going to do I wanted to go to dance school so badly but I didn't have the money. Then I met this guy, his name is Kotori but everyone calls him Sharks. He bought me nice things I could have never afforded, lots of nice clothes and jewelry, he wanted to take me in and give me a place to stay and he promised he'd give me enough money to go dancing school" Tea paused, looking outside the window gathering her thoughts. Yugi was listening to her carefully, not wanting to miss a detail.

She continued. "Well I was such a naive little girl, I didn't know why he wanted to be so nice to me, I didn't think he wanted anything in return. He did. I had to give up my body for him, my innocence. At first I thought that'd it'll be fun, turning all the guy's heads, being a strip dancer and showing off how beautiful I was. It wasn't beautiful at all. I should have gotten out of there before it had gotten any worst, but I was such an idiot. I stayed, then he started feeding me ecstasy pills and drugs and I was like his slave. To make matters worst He sold me off to his clients." Tea turned away and looked at the ground in shame, biting her lower lip trying to hold back the tears.

"You see he owns this big drug dealer ring and his clients are the people who come from all over the country to buy his drugs, they all used me as a sex puppet ,a toy, it was horrible I was raped and beaten badly. The more bruises and scars I had the less and less Sharks bothered about me. I was becoming no longer the young beautiful teenage girl he had preyed on. I couldn't escape, I got hooked on these drugs and Sharks said, that, that" She choked out tears, she could no longer hold back.

"He'd kill me, he's done that before you know he kills people" she whimpered frantically. " Anyone, Anyone who gets in his way or doesn't satisfy him, Oh I'm such an idiot" Tea continued crying.

"It's okay Tea" Yugi said softly, he got up and walked around to her and cradled her in his arms repeating comforting words. Tea cried and cried till her eyes were all red and puffy, but she held onto Yugi, the kind stranger, her best friend, the person who was reminding her of what she use to be. Though he said comforting words he knew that things were not okay and if what she said as true then they could both be in a lot of danger.

-----

"Hey Tea are you hungry?" Yugi called out from behind the kitchen counter, waving a packet of biscuits in his hand, munching on one at the same time.

"No thanks Yugi" the brunette replied softly. She was lying down on the couch, obviously in deep thought. ' What am I going to do, now that I've told him. He's sure to go to the police and reveal everything, or maybe disown me completely. I don't blame him' Like if he read her mind he replied,

"Don't worry Tea, nothing is going to change between us, I'm always going to be your friend no matter what you've done or who you are."

Tea sat up and looked at Yugi behind her. He tilted his head to one side and smiled, ever so sweetly. 'How can he be smiling? This is serious! Both of us can be in real danger, but then, if I remember correctly Yugi's been in a lot of danger before. What kind of danger? I can't remember but I know he has been, So then, this means nothing to him.' After Tea's painful confession both of them had pretty much been silent to each other. Yugi didn't know exactly what he should think of it, it scared him a bit and made him sad too, but after he found Tea he had pretty much figured what happened to her so it wasn't so shocking.

"I'm going to bed," Tea said whilst getting to her feet.

"Tea Wait"

"What?"

Yugi came over to her and looked at her face to face, then pulled her into a warm heart- felt embrace.

"Yugi?" Tea muttered in shock. Eventually she gave in and hugged him back.

"Stay here with me Tea, I'll keep you safe."

Tea sniffled and tears again welled in her eyes. She hugged him tighter and for once in a long while she felt as though she was really and truly loved. She could just hold him forever.

----

Yugi was finishing his studies late that night, Tea was fast asleep in his room so I guess it was another night of sleeping on the couch. 'Oh well I don't mind, I need to make sure she gets 100 better, well physically at least' Yugi sighed. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't concentrate on his studies, all he could think about was Tea.

Suddenly the phone rang Yugi lazily shuffled over to the phone.

"Goodnight Yugi Moto speaking" he answered

"Ah Yugi Moto" A deep and gruff voice said.

"Hello? Who is this?" he demanded

"Yugi Moto, at least I know exactly who I'm dealing with, All I want to say is send that

slut back over here. You have 2 days, if not I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you" The voice chuckled cruelly. Then there was a click on the other end.

----

Whhee end of chappie. I'm getting awfully tired of this story. It was intended to be long

but I'm already notorious for leaving my projects unfinished. So should I drag the plot

further or end it quickly XD.