Guardians

Note: Thank you all so much for reviewing! We've officially hit 200 reviews! Here's chapter 30, hot off the press. By the way, everyone, I've updated my profile page so you can now see what's going on with all the stories, like which chapter I'm writing, or why there haven't been any updates lately.

Chapter Thirty: Back to School

That Monday morning dawned bright and early, just in time for Karmina to remember that they had school today. Sighing, she pulled on her long unused uniform and brushed her hair in a manic frenzy that left it looking slightly disgruntled from abuse. Her eyes were red, puffy, and sullen. She wasn't feeling quite so great about not forgiving Kaiba anymore. She felt, rather, like a bit of an idiot.

But that didn't stop her from putting up a good show of pleasantness with Joey that morning, and from walking determinedly along with Yugi and his usual crowd. Realizing that she was being more stubborn than Seto Kaiba himself didn't brighten her mood, but rather made her act twice as forcedly kind, which didn't go unnoticed by the few people who knew of her existence.

"Karmina, dear, is there something wrong?" Several of her teachers asked her this question, which always earned the same determined smile and denial.

The only plus to her bad mood was that a lot more people were taking notice of her than usual. A few people even made an effort to smile whenever they passed her in the halls. Anyone who saw Seto Kaiba anywhere near her noted the sudden increase in her false cheeriness, and made sure to avoid her until he was well out of sight.

By lunch, her face ached from holding the unwavering smile upon it all morning. She just couldn't take it anymore, and excused herself from the seat next to Joey in order to find a nice quiet bench in the hallway, out of view. She let out a grateful sigh and allowed her face to fall into the frowning grimace it had held that morning.

As she stared fixidly out the window, her mind seemed to get a little carried away, and lost to reason. She saw herself vividly in her mind's eye, kissing Seto, flirting with Seto, and even, briefly before she shut it out, marrying Seto. She blinked and left her eyes closed until she felt a presence next to her.

"Not now, Joey," she said haughtily, not opening her eyes.

"I'm not sure what to say in response to such an insult," Seto Kaiba replied calmly.

Her eyes snapped open and she turned beet red. "What do you want?"

"What, no fake smile for me?"

"Don't you make fun of me, Seto Kaiba!"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm not allowed to sit on a bench?"

"You know very well that you didn't come over here to sit on a bench."

He shrugged, face like a mask. "And neither did you. You came out here to get away from them," he said, pointing forcibly at Tristan and Joey, who were apparently having a food eating contest.

Sighing, she let herself grin. "Well then, I admit it, I needed to get away. So what?"

"You're still mad, aren't you?"

"Gee, Einstein, did you figure that out all by yourself or did Roland help you?"

His mouth twitched as if he was going to smile, but he didn't. "Roland doesn't have a clue what's wrong with me. He thinks that he needs to do a better job as a Kaiba Corp. employee."

"Wrong with you?"

"You aren't the only one in a bad temper."

"But… why?"

He stood up and walked calmly away, just before the bell rang and Karmina had to scramble off to art class.

She was not the most artistically gifted person, but did manage to maintain a straight A average in this class for effort and following directions. Naturally, when their teacher announced that they were having a free day and could draw, paint, or create anything they wished for a grade, she was not pleased.

"What on earth am I supposed to do?" she asked her easel as if it would suddenly come to life and create a masterpiece upon itself.

Since painting seemed to be her only strong point, she picked up the brush, dipped it into the paint, and then drew a square, suddenly having an idea. She quickly grabbed a piece of construction paper, cut it into a heart, and ripped it jaggedly down the side. She painted the two halves' outline inside the square, taking up most of its inner space. Pausing to examine the effect, she grinned a little and closed her eyes, calling a familiar building to memory and then painting its likeness in the left half of the heart, leaving off the label. She then seemed to fall into a bit of a trance and her brush flew over the paper, not really making sense to a few interested watchers. When she finished, there were two separate scenes on the two separate halves of the heart.

One side showed a rainy day and two indistinct figures embracing in the open and deserted street. Karmina hadn't even been thinking consciously of herself or of Seto when she'd painted it, but it was painfully obvious now who the subject of that drawing was. On the other side, however, there was no embracing couple. There was, however, the same building and the same rain, and even the same indistinct girl. But this girl was not being embraced by an indistinct figure; she was laying on the ground, moth open, covered in mud and rainwater, and looked ready to pound the street with her fist.

Over the very top of the halves of the heart was a white strip with a title, No More Love Songs, sprawled across it. It was the cover she would someday use, she knew, for her first album.

The art teacher scurried over to see what it was that so many students were staring at, and smiled. "I always knew you had more than one art in you, Karmina! Very well done! A+ for sure!"

Karmina blushed and gently pulled the painting from the easel. It was perfect, and she loved it, but it also reminded her of the shambles her life, previously looking up, had become. The bell rang and she scurried out of the class, heading down the hall to her locker to store her painting.

A certain CEO was leaving a math class he'd paid even less attention to than usual, and was still not paying attention to where he was going. He had Language Arts next, and he couldn't forget that Karmina was in that class with him. He took his time getting there, passing obliviously by the open locker and girl trying to force a painting into it without any damage to the artwork.

She didn't even notice as he passed, nor did she let herself look at him through the last class of the day, preferring to do her assignment silently with her head bent.

At the end of the day, Karmina sulked to her locker, smiling falsely at anyone who looked at her. She wrenched out her backpack and stuffed her latest novel into it alongside the text books she needed to do her homework. The last thing she pulled out was a rolled painting.

Joey Wheeler smiled and took her backpack. "I'll carry dat, Karmina. Dere's a surprise waitin' for ya at da house, and you won't wanna look tired for dis!"

End note: Oooo, whatever could come of this? Review everyone!