Guardians

Note: Wow, I got a lot of reviews quick for that chapter. I know you're all hyped to see Kaiba, so don't worry, we'll be hearing from him very soon! Here's chapter 41. Enjoy and review, everyone!

Chapter Forty-One: Arrival

Joey watched her nearly the entire time she slept, watched her every breath, and every time she tossed or turned, worries in her dreams. And every time she groaned in pain or frustration, his hand strayed to her face, brushing her hair out of it, caressing it, making sure that she was still all right. Sometimes he thought she almost relaxed at his touch…almost as if he could be the one to make her whole again… to fix her broken heart. But he knew that he wasn't, couldn't be.

"You're beautiful, Karmina, inside and out… but it's something more den dat… dat makes me love you. It's something about da way dat you can cry and still look so strong, and so brave."

She stirred just a little and put and stretched her hand outward, reaching for some goal just beyond her reach. He took that hand and kissed it, just because it felt right, and just because it let him dream, for only a moment, that she was his… that he was the one she wanted to be with, the one her hand was stretching out for.

The plane landed and he knew it was time to wake her up. Letting go of the hand that he'd still been holding on to, he put on his big-brother smile and prodded her awake.

"What? Who? Where?" she gasped, sitting up and staring around her. "Oh… we're here…" she noticed. "Good."

"Come on, da other's are already off da plane, but I had ta wake ya up."

"I slept the whole time?"

"Snored, too."

"Sorry! I must have… bothered you."

"Well, a little, but dat's okay. Tristan's way worse den you."

She smiled and yawned, stretching her arms. "I feel so… tired, still…" she said sadly. Then she realized what she was doing and put on a fake smile. "But anyway… we should find the others."

Joey nodded and walked off the plane, helping his sister find her suitcase, and not letting Duke or Tristan help. "If you wanna help someone, go an help Karmina."

Tristan grinned. "I would have thought you'd wanna do that, Joey."

He glared and shook his head. "Don start wit me, Tristan."

Tristan shrugged, but didn't help Karmina. She managed plenty fine on her own, although she felt a little pang at the idea of taking a trip.

A business trip… that's where Seto told them he was. Saying that he was with me… that would ruin his image… ruin his life… and his future. And besides, that's not something he would want to admit. He never… never should've followed me that day. It would have been better for the both of us if he hadn't.

The hotel they stayed at was fancy enough, in its own way, with those little chocolates on the pillows and nice towels. It was formal and too fancy to be real, a lot like a certain concrete and steel structure that she had spent little time in, but where it seemed her heart belonged. She shook her head to clear it, and threw her suitcase onto the bed.

Serenity and Tea followed her in and did the same. "We're sharing this room, since we're the only girls. But I doubt we'll be in here much. The beach is much more interesting."

Karmina sighed and found a window to open. She also found the door to a balcony, which she found comforting and sad at the same time.

"Don't you love the smell of sea air?" Tea asked.

"It is… nice…" she mused, but she was really talking about the sky and the balcony and the memories that just then weren't painful, but just there.

"Well, I think the boys'll want to go the beach soon, so we'd better get ready," Tea said with a smile.

Karmina nodded and found the swim suit, her eyes unfocused and her thoughts drifting.

"Hey, Karmina," Tea said, her voice empty of its usual buoyancy. "You seem sad. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Serenity hadn't said a word, and looked ready to keep it that way, but then she looked up at Karmina. "My brother loves you, you know. He tries to make it sound like it doesn't hurt him, the way you act about Kaiba, but I can tell that it does. He can be an idiot sometimes, but he's the sweetest guy that you'll ever meet, and it isn't nice of you to hurt him like this."

Taken aback, she stared at the girl for a moment before responding. "You don't understand… how it feels… to have your heart trampled on... and to know that it's partly your own fault."

"Isn't that what you're doing to Joey? Trampling on his heart?"

"I never… put my image before him… never told him that he didn't matter… and besides… love is something that… that makes you so happy you think you might just die from being too content… its where you know you belong to this one person, and you shouldn't ever be apart. How could Joey… how could he feel that way about someone like me?"

"I don't know, Karmina, I just know that he does. You didn't see him on that plane, when he thought no one was watching. He never looked away from you the whole time, you know that? And let me tell you, Joey Wheeler paying attention to something besides food for that long… it's a miracle."

Karmina sighed and looked down. "Did he… really look at me… the whole time?"

Serenity nodded and Tea grinned. "Even when the stewardess brought more peanuts."

"R-really?" That news was quite shocking to her. She'd always thought that, no matter what, food would always come first to Joey Wheeler. There seemed to be a lot left for her to learn. "That's… amazing…"

"I know. So… all I'm asking is… give my big bro a chance, okay?"

Tea looked between them. "Listen, Karmina… I have to agree with Serenity on this one. I mean, I know you got your heart broken, and I know that you're scared and all that… but I think that, if you're going to heal… then Joey's your best bet. He's been hurt too… and I don't think he'd ever hurt you… at least not on purpose."

Karmina sighed. "It isn't that simple. A lot of the time… I want to like Joey that way… I want to move on… but then… I just can't. It's like I hit this… wall… like there's something I should be seeing that I'm not."

The girls shrugged. "Well, I don't know… it sounds to me like you're just trying to come up with an excuse for yourself," Tea said. But anyway, enough of this talk… it's time to head down to the beach!"

She lead the way down to the boys' rooms (of which there were two) and, not surprisingly, they'd already made a mess of the rooms, but they were ready for the beach nonetheless. Karmina felt, for some reason, embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit by Joey, and looked down, cheeks flaming.

"C'mon you guys, I'm staved, so let's get down dere and find a good ole food stand!"

Everyone groaned.

End note: What will the sweet sea air bring to our travelers, I wonder? That's for me to know and you to find out next chapter! Review!