Again, I am not going to exposit the entire Noa arc. I'm just going to look at the important Azureshipping moments This one is from episode 3-14, "Merger of the Big Five, Pt. 1." I did my research! Takahashi will own these characters forever and always.

A request: I have written another fanfic called "Invisible Ink." It is in my list of stories on my profile. Please read it and review. You might like it (hopefully), but please read the Author's Note in the first chapter.

A Battle Won, a War's Outcome Cloudy

Why didn't she just let him go, like Joey had suggested?

Why didn't she just let him walk away?

Téa knew why, though she felt that her reason wouldn't make sense to anyone else. She liked Mokuba. He had been nothing but caring and concerned about her when they were in the warehouse, and, if she could help rescue him, she was going to. She knew Kaiba could not rescue Mokuba by himself. He, by his own admission, was going insane.

It was bizarre, knowing Kaiba's weakness. She understood that this made her his worst enemy. He had felt her from inside, and she had seen into him. It made her skin crawl and tingle, thinking about what had transpired last night. A part of her refused to believe it had happened, like she had seen a ghost or a murder. Her stomach churned. She forced herself to do the opposite of what she wanted to do, which was to stay away from him and his eyes, out of his arms' reach, and curl up small. She felt her heart beating, the bareness of her arms, and the softness of her belly, yet she was not going to look away.

"What's the problem?" His voice was hoarse and sinister. His eyes were that same cool, sharp blue. There was a white corona shining starkly inside each pupil. His lower lip twitched against his upper lip.

"You're the problem. In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck here because of you."

Yeah, you are the fucking problem, Kaiba. And your tough guy act is shit.

It felt good to think those words, even if she would never say them out loud. That would make people wonder, and she had to stay normal. What happened with her and Kaiba was too much; it was too big; it was too weird. Her friends were already dealing with their own too muches, too bigs, and too weirds. She would protect them from hers.

Kaiba stepped toward her, raising his arm.

Téa's mouth dried out at the sight of his black shirted chest moving toward her, but when he moved around her, she ran back in front of him.

"Don't you see we can help you get Mokuba back? He's our friend, too." She knew he didn't see, just as he didn't see that what he had been doing to her was wrong, yet she meant everything she said. Mokuba was their friend, or at least hers.

Her exhaustion caught up with her and she dropped her arms.

He dropped his head and looked away.

The great Seto Kaiba couldn't keep eye contact with her.

Surprisingly, she had won the battle. Her point had been proved. She didn't have the time or the energy to worry about the repercussions of this. She looked up at the false Tristan towering on a steppe. The smile and the eyes of the false Tristan were the worst. To see that jagged grin and grasping, cunning eyes juxtaposed with the features of one of her best friends jarred Téa, choked her. The caramel color of his eyes had changed into poisonous sulfur.

In a toy monkey's body, the real Tristan was as good as dead. She would mourn seeing his smile, the bright, soft golden rings of his eyes, and his easy loping stride. Tristan's body, his strength and agility, was his pride. Thinking about him losing that to reside in a piece of 12 inch molded plastic, powered by a microchip, was as depressing as thinking of him paralyzed or with an amputation. What made it worse was that it was stolen. Since Yugi had made friends with Tristan, Tristan had only used his strength to help people. He had become a gentle giant. Now, what would Tristan's body be used for?

Téa knew Tristan felt violated, and she knew what violation felt like. Her commiseration with him was secret and shameful.

She hoped Tristan got through this intact, with his body, mind and soul whole and united.

She wondered if she would be able to.