written by Atlantis
©2004
I promised chapters soon and here is one of them! Aren't you just so proud of me? Heh. Hope you all like this one as much as the last. And now, for the replies to reviewers!
LuvinAnime: Yes, it was just a prologue. Glad you like it!
Nightfall2525: The next one is right now! Hehe.
Marin M: Thanks!
mariks1andonly: I'm glad you like the story but you shouldn't be confused. I gave a clear and thorough author's note at the beginning of the prologue saying what time period they were in. Maybe you should pay more attention rather than tell me I need to clarify.
peeps: I was going for the original scheme and I'm happy you're enjoying it.
bored hungry: I love your name. It's so funny. As for the fic, I wasn't really trying to be funny but I'm glad you thought so.
Lunar Dragon 209: Sorry about the blue dress but really, women wear clothes that bring out their features and one of Téa's best features is her eyes. Red would clash and brown is icky as a dress color. But I'm glad you like it.
CommonKnowledge: Ah, so you're acquainted with my other works? Nice to have a familiar face around here. It will be fun indeed.
Kineticfairy: No need to wait anymore! Here's the next chapter. Thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: If by this time you don't know what I do and do not own as far as this show goes, then you're just daft.
Rating: PG-13 (this chapter is again, PG though)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
PART 1
She blinked and gaped, silent for a moment before sputtering angrily and slapping his hand away. Seto's amused expression didn't change. He leaned back a bit, still studying her, while she mumbled incoherently under her breath, though he caught some of her more colorful expressions with some surprise. He had expected a simpering idiot, not a wildcat.
Téa, for her part, was furious and couldn't seem to get a word past the barrier of her lips. If the man before her had continued to speak she wouldn't have found it so difficult to find her tongue but that shadowed smile and intense stare was unsettling her as never before. Fine then, if she couldn't get her voice to cooperate in speaking, then she would leave. Pushing up from the stone floor of the balcony Téa got to a standing position but the man followed her move and now she could only stare up at him. She backed herself against the railing though he made no move towards her and gave a startled and unattractive scream when she found herself leaning back a little too far, ready to tumble over the edge.
Windmilling her arms, she tried to right herself and moved her feet hastily, falling forward instead of back. Not only had her mouth betrayed her but her feet had as well. Téa was confined in the large hold of the man whose presence she had been trying to remove herself from. Utter humiliation swept over her at his rumbling chuckle and since she couldn't think of any other way the situation could become worse, she buried her head in his chest, her lands latching onto the lapels of his fine black coat.
"Seto, darling!" She was wrong, it could get worse. Téa peeked from her self-proclaimed sanctuary to see a richly attired woman with beautiful black hair pulled into an intricate style, waving a hanky at the man she had been forced to latch on to. The woman stopped short and hid a giggle behind her hand. That practice was all-too familiar for Téa. Her mother did it constantly. "Am I interrupting something? You two certainly seem to be getting along well," the woman commented with another giggle. Not a moment later, the doorway to the balcony had gained two other occupants, one being her mother and the other, undoubtedly the sire of the young man that held her tight in unyielding arms. Téa opened her mouth to spit out a reply when a firm hand at the small of her back stopped her.
"Lady Téa was merely explaining her unease at honoring me with a dance. She doesn't think much of her balance," Seto said quietly, his hand even more firm at the girl's indignant gasp. "But I've assured her that she will be fine. Don't look into things that aren't present, mother," Seto said in reference to his mother's insinuation. "Come my lady, we'll cure you of your shyness yet," he said a bit softer, tugging Téa to his side and tucking her arm through his.
Téa bit down on her lip so hard she was afraid she'd draw blood. How dare this creature act like he owned the world! And her! Her mouth may have betrayed her and her feet may have followed soon after, but her eyes were still able to glare and glare she did. Even when she was swept onto the dance floor and twirled in the young man's arms, she kept her stone face. He had the audacity to laugh at her.
"Must you always look like you're surprised or angry? Might I have a smile?" he enquired, tipping her back. She looked up at him from her temporary reclined position and narrowed her eyes.
"You most certainly cannot," she replied tartly, spinning away from him and bringing her hands above her head. Her hips tilted to and fro to the beat of the music, an inappropriate dance by any standards, especially with her arms fluttering all around her. It made Seto like her even more.
"You're going to cause quite the controversy," he said quietly, stepping closer as others on the dance floor began to throw disgusted looks their way. Téa rolled her eyes and tried to continue dancing her own way, though the beat didn't match the movements of her body at all.
"It wouldn't be the first time," she mumbled, closing her eyes momentarily and sighing. That self-same sigh completely left her breathless when an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her directly up against the entire front of the man claiming to be her intended. A very rare blush colored the entirety of her pale cheeks and her arms floated down to grab at his shoulders, confusing feelings coursing through her veins at his touch. He began shifting left and right, keeping her as close as possible, and damned the consequences and rumors. Téa followed his rhythm and when she took note of the looks they were receiving, they not her, she looked up at him and smiled outright, looping an arm around his neck and holding him just as tightly as he held her.
"There she is," Seto remarked quietly, moving his mouth just a breath away from her ear.Later, as the two were scolded for their behavior on the dance floor despite their ages, the two snuck glances at each other, trying to hold in their laughter. Téa had never met a man who was not disgusted, embarrassed, or repulsed by her behavior and Seto had never met a woman as unconventional and free-spirited as the one he had danced with earlier.
"Really Téa, I thought you had outgrown these types of games. You are to be married now. Now is when you should start to cultivate a good name for yourself and your husband!" her mother chided, waving her fan frantically. Téa gave her a pointed look. "Téa, this is no joke. Young Seto is a fine man and I have arranged your marriage to him with his parents. You have tried my patience on this matter long enough."
"But mother..."
"No. I'll not hear a word from you on this! You have frightened away more than any girl's normal share of suitors and not had any qualms about it. I'll not have you snubbing the most respected family of the northern territory. It is decided."
"Father would have never forced me to..."
"Your father was a fool when it came to you! You were not born a boy but if he had had his way, you would have been raised exactly like one. Thank the Good Lord I was there the make sure you didn't lose all of your femininity."
"How dare you insult father like that! You can't just..." Téa's tirade was cut short with a sharp slap to the face. Her head turned with the force of the blow and she bit her lip to keep from crying.
"Hold your tongue, girl," her mother hissed. "Insolent and stubborn. Just like your father. Go and wash your face. You're a mess." She turned to Seto's parents. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I have to be firm with her at times. It's the only way." Had she seen the glare sent in her direction, she might not have said a word. No, it had not been Téa's eyes willing her body to turn into ash. It had been Seto's."Are you all right?" It was soft-spoken and careful, similar to the tone one would take when approaching a spooked horse. Téa looked up from the wash basin into the mirror above it and saw Seto in the reflection. Her eyes were no longer lit with the joviality and vibrance from earlier, replaced instead by somber reality and the remembrance of better days.
"I am fine." Seto took a hold of her forearm once she had placed the small towel down she had used to dry her face with, eventually getting her to look at him.
"You don't have to lie to me. I'm not like ordinary suitors." Téa snorted.
"That's because you're not a suitor. You've won me without even having to play the game," she bit out. Seto refused to let go when she made to walk away and turned to glare at him.
"Do you think this is what I want? If so, you're sorely mistaken. I enjoy my freedom. I have never even given thought to finding a bride and yet now I am to wed you, without any choice in the matter either. We are both reluctant parties, here. I don't love you and you don't love me but I will care about the way you're treated. I have to. I won't force you to bed me and you won't have to sleep in the same room with me. But our futures are decided now and we have to accept them as they become the same future; a shared future. I will care for you and protect you as it will be my duty. You will not be a burden. You will help me and be my partner. If there is one thing my parents have taught me it is that two people supporting each other will accomplish more and go further than one man commanding his wife as if she were a servant. Do you understand?" Seto's breathing was rough and choked with emotion. He was losing the freedom his youth had provided and would soon shoulder the responsibility of a household, land, and a wife. True, he had never been rebellious or out of line, but he enjoyed the sanctuary individuality had provided. And now he was losing that.
"Will you try to change me?" The question was angry and fearful. Seto looked down at her, watched her jaw tick in anticipation of his answer and her eyes water up.
"No. You will be my companion and my friend. I would never ask a friend to change because I value them for their weaknesses and strengths alike. As my wife, you may do as you like, within reason. And I swear on my honor as heir to the North Kaiba Coast, your mother will never lay a hand on you again," he ground out, pulling Téa into her arms. Seto was not emotional nor did he become attached to many people, but if there was one thing he could not stand for, it was brutality. He was a protector, like his father Mamoru. Had his father not been his example, it was easy to surmise he would have become ruthless because it was so easy to do so when wielding as much power as he did. But that was not the case. His father's ruthlessness had been tampered down and balanced by his mother and somehow, Seto knew that Téa would balance him in the same way.
"You're a lot like my father," Téa whispered against Seto's chest, still enclosed in the circle of his arms. Seto took a step back and looked down at her.
"With the way you were defending him before, I will accept that as a compliment." Téa nodded.
"As you should. Will you walk with me?" She stepped out of his arms and gazed steadily at him, some of the sadness gone but much still hovering around her like a suffocating mist. Seto nodded and stepped to her side, letting her link arms with him as they silently made their way through several halls and outdoors into the very garden where Téa had been shooting down into earlier. Neither said anything for a long while, merely drawing from each other the strength that could be found in a partner, thinking heavily of the direction their young lives had so quickly taken.
When they reached a particularly secluded area with large hedges surrounding the area, a small pool and fountain, a small stone bench, and a large tree whose branches hung over the still water they halted their walk. Téa released Seto's arm and fanned her skirts out as she sat down gracefully on the lush grass at the edge of the pond, slipping her shoes off and wrapping her
arms around her bent knees. Seto sat just behind her on the bench, noting how relaxed her posture had become in the last few moments and how deep and steady her breaths had become. She was at peace here.
"Was there something you wished to speak to me about?" To the point and almost always blunt, Seto asked the question that had been fluttering around his mind for the last half an hour or so that they had been walking around. Téa turned to look back at him and his breath caught in his throat. The girl was made for the moonlight and had he the power, would have frozen that single moment for all of time, preserving her soft beauty and the way her soul shone through vulnerable and unguarded eyes. He heard her sigh audibly and the moment was broken. She scooted back and settled herself between his knees, leaning her head back on his thigh to look at him.
"We will be friends?" It sounded more like an unsure statement than a question to Seto.
"That is my hope, yes," he responded quietly, watching his hand, as though detached from his body, smooth over her hair.
"And what will happen when either your parents or my mother claim it's time for me to bear you a child? What then?" she asked, her eyes slipping closed for a moment as Seto's fingers traveled over her scalp and slipped through the strands of her hair. Seto took a deep breath and furrowed his brow.
"I'm not sure," he answered honestly. "It almost seems inevitable that we will need children to continue our line but please, know that I will never force you." Téa sat up and moved to her knees, then turned around and set her hands on the tops of Seto's thighs.
"But how could I ever agree to carry the child of a man I do not love?"
"I... I don't know," Seto admitted quietly. "Surely you want a family someday."
"Well of course I do, but I had planned to do so with someone I had the chance to love. Instead we have both been thrown together because we either match or are convenient in regards to both of our needs. I am only just barely seventeen and yet I know that I will be expected to have a child, or children, within the short span of a few years..." Téa could not finish her point, having begun to sob and shake. Seto chewed his bottom lip, watching the crystalline tears slide down her cheeks and neck before leaning forward and wrapping her in a comforting embrace, gently shushing her.
"Only seventeen," he whispered. God, she was young! He had expected her to be at least twenty which would have been closer to his twenty-two but it seemed as though fate, or his parents, had different plans. He shivered as two small hands wound around
his waist inside of his jacket, the skin of her palms cool from the outside air and transferring to his warm skin. He released her for a short moment and shrugged out of his jacket, pulling it around her shoulders and helping her pull her arms through the sleeves before lifting her onto his lap and pulling her close once more. He could only slightly understand her hesitation over having a child with someone she didn't love but he couldn't see why she didn't think she could come to love him in time.
True, he didn't see himself falling in love with her for he already felt the tuggings of a fatherly nurturing growing within him. She was far too young to be a true match for him. But could she not even try?
"If it comes down to it," he said shakily, "I will have my children by another woman. I would not force you to love me or bed me, as I said before. Not even to continue my ancestors' bloodline." Téa pulled away from his chest and her glassy eyes bored into his.
"And should it come to that, I will bear your children. Whether or not we love each other, as your wife I will do my duty and not have another do it for me. Hopefully by that time we will be friends. There truly is no other option. But I would like to be your friend," Téa told him ever-so-softly, pulling the jacket tighter around her as a breeze picked up. Seto leaned forward to place a kiss at her brow, a fatherly gesture that Téa felt warm her heart.
"Then as friends, our first adventure together will be to survive the few weeks of mock-courting before the wedding when you live with me and my family," he whispered to her with a smile, standing slowly and helping her to her feet before tucking her next to his side. He watched the last remnants of Téa's tears fade away as she rolled her eyes and looked up at him.
"Yeah," she snorted. "That'll be fun." Seto chuckled and together they began walking back to where they had come from, back to the lion's den.End of chapter 1. Personally I wasn't too pleased with the way this chapter turned out. After I finished it and read over it, it seemed forced. The next chapter flows much better. But as for this one... Like it? Hate it? Review and let me know either way!