I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH!

Chapter 8 - In The Mouth of Madness

There was a massive splash next to Tea as Kaiba plunged into the water. He didn't surface for several seconds. When he did, he spun around trying to find her. When his eyes finally landed on her he began to swim frantically towards her.

"K-Kaiba! What in the hell are you doing!" She exclaimed.

When he reached her he grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly towards him, and began shoving them both to shore. "Shut up and swim, there's a shark!"

"Shark!" She yelped and didn't hesitate another minute.

They were still a far way from shore, since the cliff protruded out over the ocean. They swam, but Tea screamed when she felt something brush against her leg. She thrashed, and Kaiba feared the worst. He could see the top fin of the shark cutting through the water around her.

He ducked under the water to try and find the shark. His eyes stung from the salt, but he was able to make out a dark blob next to the white splashes from Tea. He swam towards the object and used all the force he had to kick it. There was more thrashing, and the water splashed around them.

Tea was disoriented as to what had happened with all the splashing, but regained her senses when she felt Kaiba tug on her arm again. They continued on towards the shore, unsure if the shark was following them or not. One of them could be pulled under and eaten any second.

They finally reached the beach, their bodies shaking from adrenaline. In the shallow and swaying surf, they lay in the knee length water, their hearts racing. Kaiba was on his knees, the water to his waist, as was Tea, right next to him.

His hand still lay protectively on her arm. She panted for a minute, neither of them saying another word. She turned to Kaiba, who was staring at her, his eyes dark and yet still strong.

Kaiba finally broke the silence. "Gardner, you clumsy idiot, you could have been-" he was cut off.

Tea had thrown her arms around his neck and was hugging him tightly.

He just knelt there, shocked. He could feel her trembling against his chest, and she was sniffling. Was she crying? She gripped him tighter, and he suddenly reacted and wrapped his arms around her as well. It felt strange, and yet... right.

Her fears were washed away in his arms for some reason. She was quiet, and he was holding her back. His strong arms around her back and his hands resting against her shivering body. He had saved her. She didn't know why she felt she needed to hug him, she just did. It was perfect... until...

"OW!" Tea exclaimed and pushed away from Kaiba and spun and lifted up her foot from the water. A crab had clamped onto her big toe and wasn't about to let go. "It hurts! Get it off! Ow ow ow ow ow!" She began to hop around in circles, in pain.

Kaiba started to laugh and held his head in his hand.

"Shut up Kaiba! Help me! Ow ow ow!"

He then half-heartedly grabbed for her flailing arms and legs. She was almost to shore before he was able to catch her around the waist and reached down to remove the crab. He held it by its shell so it was unable to snip at him. His other hand was still wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly to him -unaware he was doing so.

"You make good bait, you know." He said, and she made an annoyed sound as she stared down at her throbbing foot. She looked over at the crab in Kaiba's hand and stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, right." She retorted.

"Lets see, crabs, sharks, snakes... I could use you just about anywhere and catch something. Sounds like a good strategy." He gave a light chuckle, and then he realized just how close he was holding her to him. He could literally feel the heat sparking where his bare flesh touched hers.

He looked down at her. She was staring up at him already.

He then reluctantly pushed back from her. "God, I need a bath."

Her face turned into shock. "What in the hell is that supposed to mean! I'm dirty or something?"

"No, from the salt water and sand, that's what." He rolled his eyes and finished their trip back to shore, with the wriggling crab still in his hand. She followed behind him.

He left for the waterhole first, after he had set up the fire a little more and started to cook the crab, which he had impaled on a stick and stuck over the flames. When he returned, he saw that Tea was staring at the food hungrily, her mouth literally watering.

"I'm surprised you didn't just eat it and leave me nothing." He said and sat down and took the stick from the fire.

She grunted angrily. "What, you don't trust me?"

"Trust you? Around food? Ha."

"If I wasn't so hungry, I'd argue with you, Kaiba." She said and licked her lips as he cracked it in two.

He raised an eyebrow. "Now I know you've gone crazy, if you won't even do the one thing you seem to enjoy the most." He handed her one half, and she began to eat it hungrily. He looked down at his and began to eat as well.

It had happened so fast. Mokuba was barely able to fully understand what happened. All he did know was that the mansion was under attack! The automated defense systems installed destroyed the fighters, but not before they did considerable damage to the place.

Mokuba reached the safe room in the basement with Roland and some other bodyguards until the raid was over.

"Who w-were those guys?" Mokuba asked, unable to mask the fear shaking his voice.

Roland sighed. "I don't know sir, but the designs the computer here recorded seem to tell us they were the same as the ones that attacked you out at sea." He replied, looking over the specs in the computer in front of him.

"They probably wanted us both dead. For some reason, someone's trying to take Kaiba Corp down." Mokuba said and pondered to himself for a minute. "That's not going to happen though. They may have taken Seto from me, but I won't let his –our- company be taken as well!" Mokuba replied, his voice determined.

Roland looked over at him, surprised at his young master. The demeanor just didn't suit the otherwise cheerful and innocent child before him. he was becoming more and more like a true Kaiba –more and more like his older brother. Roland didn't know whether to be scared or... proud.

"Roland." Mokuba barked, and he snapped to attention.

"Yes sir?"

"I want to activate the security system Seto kept hidden for emergencies just like this." Mokuba replied.

Seto never talked about it much, but he had said to Mokuba that if anything were to ever happen to him, that there was a safety program installed equipped with the right 'equipment' to handle something like this.

At the time Seto had first showed it to him, he thought nothing of it. In fact, he said in his mind 'nothing will ever happen to Seto, so I have nothing to worry about' . Boy, was that wrong and naïve.

Mokuba felt his heart ache at the absence of his brother. He had to be strong.

"But sir..." Roland began, but then Mokuba stared at him with those dark blue eyes that matched his older brother's almost exactly. "Right sir."

"I'm a Kaiba after all..." Mokuba began, "... I should be able to know how to handle them."

"Right sir." Roland echoed. "I'll begin to unlock and reboot the Kaiba Corp defensive and offensive systems. Weapons and satellite systems can be up in a few hours, with your activation code, sir."

"Of course." Mokuba held his picture of Seto that hung around his neck.

Kaiba rest against the sandy beach as night time approached once again. It had been a day since the shark incident, and the... hug incident. He was still unsure about that one. He had managed to kill one of those snakes with his metal cards and they had cooked and eaten that.

Tea was reluctant to eat it, but her hunger was getting the better of her. She had her energy back with the food they had eaten. She was down near the beach, her feet tapping the water. She was practicing her dance moves.

Kaiba watched her from a distance. Not that he thought she was stunning and eye-catching in the glowing sunset –no- she was just the only thing to occupy his mind. She was like television. Boring yet sometimes entertaining television.

Tea pranced and chased the water back and forth, practicing her dance moves choppily. The night air was cool and salty.

She was now in the shortest skirt imaginable, and a school shirt that was now exposing her belly and her arms, since it had become a no-sleeved shirt in the process of their stay on the island. She had long ago discarded her shoes, and didn't care where they lie.

She spun and hopped, moving her arms. She twirled her feet against the soft, wet sand. Her foot caught a shell and she stumbled.

Kaiba had tensed up when he saw her almost fall. What in the hell was wrong with him? When did he begin to feel protective? And for her of all people. Hell, he had jumped off a cliff for her! He must really be losing his mind.

It made him think of the kiss again. That fiery kiss that left a permanent impression on his lips. He remembered their hug after he had saved her from the shark. The warm feeling of her body; his arms supporting her.

He rubbed his temple. What the hell indeed.

It was a week before Mokuba heard from the others again. They had returned to Domino, since school was starting back up again. They had heard about the attacks and were over at the mansion, a third missing of course still.

Joey whistled. "They sure did a numba on dis place, whoever they were." He was elbowed in the side.

"Don't be rude, Joey." Serenity whispered.

Mokuba nodded. "We'll catch them though. We were attacked again the other day, but our defensives blew them out of the sky. We looked at the wreckage. Oddly enough, there are no human occupants. They're all total machine. I wonder who could be wanting to destroy Kaiba Corp so badly."

Yugi looked over at the younger Kaiba. "We've seen plenty of people try to ruine Kaiba Corp in the past. And I hate to say it, but Kaiba has made more enemies than friends." Yugi said, and saw Mokuba tilt his head, his eyes looking away.

Duke sighed, trying to break the temporary silence. "I never knew Kaiba Corp still had weapons and stuff. I mean, I know they made them, I just wasn't aware Kaiba actually kept them. I thought he didn't want anything to do with the old Kaiba Corp and focus solely on duel monsters." Duke replied.

"Seto didn't believe in our step-father's business, but that doesn't mean he wasn't still worried. He told me he was going to leave a backup system just in case Gozaboro's own enemies decided to take down the rest of the company and family later on." Mokuba explained.

"What does the government think of all this use of weapons other than their own?" Yugi asked.

"The government has dealt with Gozaboro himself. Plus, we're keeping this local. The minute our fight hits the city itself, then we won't be allowed to operate any more. Besides, we got enough ties –people as well as financial- in the government that they probably won't protest for quite a while." Mokuba said and the others nodded.

"I get it." Tristan added in from the back as they walked to the still intact living room.

There was a pause as they finally made it in the room. Mokuba looked them over carefully one by one before finally making eye contact with Yugi. "You guys haven't heard anything new either, have you?" he asked solemnly. Somehow, Mokuba knew there was no news; he'd be the first to know, but he just felt he had to ask the question anyway.

Yugi shook his head, his eyes sad. He walked close to Mokuba and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know they're alive, Mokuba. They're both fighters. Too stubborn to die." He said, and Mokuba forced a weak and tired smile.

"Why don't you go get the water, you lazy jerk!" Tea exclaimed, and Kaiba got a little pissed off and threw down a block of wood into the pile.

"I'm trying to build a fire here. I don't have time for your childish complaints." He retorted and marched past her to find another fallen tree limb.

The past week had been hell. She had become more pissed off at him as the days went on. Maybe it was because he was avoiding her and barely speaking a word to her other than barks of annoyance, like the one he had just said.

The only times he seemed somewhat approachable was at night, when they slept back to back. And even then, he would always tell her to stop talking because he was trying to sleep. It was not good either that Tea was having mood swings and other 'girl problems'. Kaiba was not aware of it, either, and she wasn't about to tell him.

Tea spun on her heal and marched towards the waterhole. That jerk! He just didn't want her there, that was all he really wanted. She understood him well enough by now to know when she wasn't wanted. Hell, Kaiba never seemed to want her around any time!

Kaiba was glad when she finally left. Geeze, all she was doing for the past few days was bitch at him. She was definitely being very annoyed with him. But then at night, when he was trying to sleep, she would suddenly try to talk nice to him. What was wrong with her? were these mood swings?

Kaiba nearly dropped the piece of wood that was in his hand.

She was a girl. They had been here almost two weeks. According to the medical books, girls her age, every month, had a...

He almost gagged. Oh... dear... god... she had to obviously wash sometime and in something... like the waterhole! And he had been drinking from there! He began to cough uncontrollably and ran to the ocean's edge.

He didn't care if it was salt water, he had to do something! He washed his mouth out in the disgusting, salty water. He spit it out quickly and then coughed some more. He wasn't feeling too well at the moment.

He felt dizzy, and he had a headache. He lifted himself from the water and headed back towards the firepit he was trying to build up. He barely made an effort to pile more wood, before he sat down in the sand, an annoyed and disgusted look on his face.

That girl... was going... to drive him... insane!

Tea finished filling the makeshift water holder made of leaves and began to make her way back. Kaiba was definitely being very jerkish lately. And to make matters worse, she was not in the best of moods either, due to obvious reasons. During the past few days she had been keeping orderly with the help of some ingenious resourcefulness on her part.

She was calming back down when she approached the campsite again. Kaiba had his back to her, and was facing the beginning fire. She set down the water next to him, but he just sat there. He looked over at it for a moment as she sat down. He turned away.

She frowned. "I thought you were thirsty. That was the whole reason we had the argument, Kaiba, don't you remember?"

He remembered, but now that he knew about the contaminated water, he wasn't about to touch it. The very sight of the leaf bowl was making him nauseous. He tried to avoid eye contact with her or anything to do with her.

"Well, fine! That's fine!" Tea huffed and grabbed the bowl and downed the whole thing.

Kaiba's eyes couldn't help but widen. He turned away to stare at the fire again. Would she really drink it if she knew what was in there? Maybe she didn't bathe from the water hole. Maybe. But then again, he wasn't sure and he wasn't about to ask her.

She wiped her mouth and threw down the bowl and sat down on the sandy beach as the sun set. He was quiet for the rest of the evening, and laid down on his back to fall asleep. Tea frowned. Usually they slept back to back. Well, maybe tonight he was just being stubborn. She huffed to herself and then laid down as well, propped her head up with her arms and fell asleep.

She awoke the next morning groggy and a little disoriented. She sat up in the dim morning light and looked over at Kaiba, who still seemed asleep. He mumbled something and then twitched a little. Then she noticed he was sweating a lot.

She got on her knees and crept closer to him. He twitched again and made a noise in his throat, and ground his teeth. She frowned. He was sweating more than he really should be, and his face looked like he was in pain. She reached out and touched his forehead.

It was very hot! He was sick! The stubborn bastard was sick!

A/N: well? Finally huh? Well, it's been hectic here with midterms and all. But I finally got around to updating! Yay! Since it took so long, I made this chapter extra long. did you like it? okay, the whole 'red tide' thing was a little strange, but hey, i had to get a way to make Kaiba not drink anything and then get sick... so, bear with me. Please please please review! nice ones though. Okay, byeeeeeeeee.