Yu-gi-oh property of Kazuki Takahashi.

Captured with a Kaiba

Tea knew that Kaiba's big Battle City tournament would not be a normal, happy day playing games in the park. She did not, however, expect to be kidnapped, least of all kidnapped and held hostage with Seto Kaiba's younger brother.

She believed that the worst was over when she heard that Bandit Keith had run screaming from the abandoned warehouse, but then Bakura stumbled down the sidewalk, pale and weak, blood pasting a bandage to his arm. A strange boy was supporting him, one hand on Bakura's shoulder, the other on his chest. Then, minutes later, Tea was snatched up, a mothball-scented arm around her neck, and yanked into the dank dimness of a van that smelled like armpits. A cloth was tied over her eyes. After what seemed like an hour, but was probably only ten minutes, the van stopped, and she was hauled down a chilly, echoing corridor with fluorescent lighting so harsh she could see it through the blindfold. They yanked off the cloth, taking a few strands of hair with it, and tossed her in a room full of boxes and high windows that concentrated the sunlight on the ceiling and high on the wall.

Tea thought the little person they threw in with her was a girl, the hair was so long and lustrous. When the figure rose to its hands and knees, raised its head and shook the hair out of its eyes, her stomach flooded with ice water. She remembered the picture dangling around his brother's neck, remembered the hands, the sounds….

"Hey," the boy said. His voice was gravelly for a child. "I know you."

Tea swallowed. She couldn't think about the closet now, or about who this boy was, or to whom he was related.

"Yeah," the boy known as Mokuba said. The muscles around his eyes softened with relief. "You're Yugi's friend. You're Tea. You're in my big brother's class. I'm Mokuba Kaiba," He stepped toward her, smiling as if she not only knew him, but also liked him. She must like him, simply because he was a Kaiba.

"Yeah, that's me." Tea had no idea what else to say. She knew she should be taking charge, thinking of a way out, at least comforting the boy, and she would. She just needed a few minutes to get her breath, and assess the situation.

"Don't be scared, Tea," Mokuba said. "Seto will be here soon. See, I have this." He opened one side of his puffy sleeveless jacket and reached inside it. Tea heard a zipper ripping. It occurred to her that this wasn't the first time she was trapped alone in a storage space with a Kaiba unzipping an article of clothing.

Mokuba pulled out a device the size of a beeper from his hidden pocket. It was made of a shiny, silvery metal that pulled the light from the ceiling down into itself and made it undulate and twist, as if the metal was a living, amphibious skin.

"This isn't just a communication device, it's a GPS system. Even if I'm unconscious, and can't tell Seto where I am, he can still find me with our satellite."

Tea was anxious to keep Kaiba a last resort. "I still think we should find a way out."

Mokuba's brows tightened. "You don't think my big brother can save us?"

"It's not that," Tea said. "I just don't think it would do us any good to just sit, you know? We should work to break ourselves out, and if your brother comes, awesome, and if we break ourselves out before he comes to us, well, the less time here, the better, right?"

Mokuba nodded. "Right. I don't want to be sitting around when Seto comes. We Kaibas NEVER just sit and wait." He glanced around the room, up, down, and around. Tea followed his gaze—boxes to window, and window to boxes. Some of the boxes were cardboard, and some were wood. Were they light enough to stack? Were they strong enough to hold if someone who was about one hundred pounds stood on them? Then there was the window. Could they open it? And, if they could open it, could they get through? Tea was slim and flexible, and Mokuba had a paunch of baby fat on his belly, but it was barely noticeable. Tea had hips and breasts to contend with.

If anyone was getting out, it was Mokuba.

"Mokuba," she said, "Let's start stacking boxes."

Mokuba grinned, bent his knees, and shoved a box into place with a scratchy whisper. She joined him.

After a few hours of pushing together, pulling together, climbing and sweating and heave-ho-ing together, Tea was anxious to save the boy with the wild raven hair. She flinched, once, when she almost slipped off a box, and Mokuba, who was below her, put his hands on her waist to steady her. The wave of revulsion she felt turned to guilt when she turned her head and saw his wide denim colored eyes staring at her with real concern. After that, she made sure that she was always in a position to catch Mokuba if he fell, but, as their tower of blocks grew taller, Tea noticed that Mokuba seemed as protective of her as she was of him. Soon, they fell into a rhythm.

When they reached the top, it finally occurred to Tea that even if the window did open, and they could fit through it, it wouldn't mean a damn thing if they were twenty feet off the ground. Tea blinked in surprise when she saw that they were four feet up. The way Mokuba almost tumbled off the tower let her know he felt the same shocked relief she did.

The window was surprisingly easy to jimmy open. One boost had Mokuba perched on the sill. Close up, it was apparent that Tea wouldn't fit. She added another reason to her growing list of how having bountiful breasts was more a curse than a blessing.

"Be careful, Mokuba," she said. She hoped that he would find Kaiba, and, in finding Kaiba, find Yugi. The Spirit would save her. He always would. She didn't mind waiting for him.

"Tea," Mokuba looked frightened. "What about you? I don't want to leave you here."

Tea put her hands on Mokuba's shoulders. Her arms almost pulled him to her, but she something stopped her from hugging Kaiba's brother.

"I'll be alright, Mokuba," she said. "You go find Kaiba. Yugi will find me."

She lifted her hands from Mokuba's shoulders and crawled, slid, and stepped down the boxes to the floor. When she looked up, Mokuba was still there.

"I'm going to send help, Tea." His eyes were gunpowder and storm clouds. "You just wait here. I promise I'll send help." Then he disappeared, his hair trailing behind him.

The ends of Mokuba's hair disappearing into the bright afternoon , and the dust motes swirling in his wake, were the last things Tea remembered before she felt something clawing at the edges of her brain, dragging her down into a shadowy half-sleep, and suspending her there in that murky, desperate place like an anchor tied around her waist.

"You belong to me," a whiny, harsh voice said from inside her. "And you will do everything I tell you to."