Seto was not pleased to put up with yet another three-hour ride back to San Francisco. He stared determinedly out the window for most of the trip, but he wasn't looking at anything; no, his mind was mulling over the numerous thoughts in his confused mind.

It wasn't like him to fear. It wasn't like him to be concerned. And that was what was unnerving him.

"What's happening to me?" he asked himself. "Worrying like this isn't like me, so what's going on…?" And that was when he realized that his uncharacteristic concern and worry were the reasons behind his being unnerved. "This is all Gardner's fault; she's trying so hard to worm her way into my heart that she's trying to change it. This has to stop now--"

"Kaiba?" Téa asked, causing the CEO's heart to skip a beat. She was taken aback by his reaction, but even more so when he turned to face her with an upset glance. "I was just wondering if you decided on where you're going to be next week… Are you going to the meeting, or are you going to work on the case?"

"Work on the case?" his pride asked, derisively. "In other words, spend more time with Téa Gardner, thereby allowing her more opportunities to further worm her way into your heart and change you even more? You've done your part, Kaiba. You warned her more than once, and she refused to listen. And if you want to avoid suspicion from Keith, you need to attend that business meeting to make it seem as though you're unaware of what he's up to."

He glanced at Téa, who was still staring at him, waiting for him to answer.

"I'm going to Detroit," he said aloud, in a tone that clearly dripped with finality. "You'll have to look after yourself."

"What!?" the dancer replied. She had been banking on Seto's help (perhaps a foolish thing to do). "But the Rare Hunters--"

"Look, I told you to go home," said Seto. "If you're not going to listen, I can't do a thing for you. And I cannot afford to miss this meeting; I'm a CEO first, and a detective second. But I'm not abandoning the case; Bandit Keith hasn't heard the last of me."

"But I thought that you were going to help me," she said.

"I never promised you anything," Seto reminded her.

"But, Kaiba, I don't stand a chance against the Rare Hunters alone!"

"I'm sure that our little group of spectators would be more than willing to keep an eye on you while you're in Portland," Seto replied, tossing an annoyed glance at the bikers.

"Sure we would!" agreed Valon. "You shouldn't have to face this alone."

Téa glanced at them, and then at Seto. She knew that the bikers could probably be reliable, but, in her heart, she wanted Seto's help beyond all others'. She leaned forward to tell him this in an undertone, but Seto, fearing that she had somehow been possessed to kiss him, hastily withdrew from her. Téa was no fool; she could sense this, and she was hurt.

"You… you want to get away from me," she realized, in a quiet, forlorn voice.

Seto said nothing; he turned away, once again looking out the window of the limo, but, in truth, gazing at nothing.

Before the revelation that had unfolded in the limo, Téa had been quite annoyed and irked with her constant arguments with Seto. But now, as she realized that the CEO was going to Detroit for the sole purpose of escaping from her (right when she needed him the most), she would have preferred the arguments.

She didn't say another word to him during the entire length of the trip back. She didn't even say goodbye; she retreated to her hotel room, an emptiness growing in her heart. All this time she had been thinking that he was having trouble understanding her, when, in truth, he didn't want to understand her at all.

Seto watched her leave, but still didn't say anything. He was vaguely aware of the roar of the limo engine as Pegasus pulled away.

"Heartbreaker!" Valon accused after Téa had left. "You know, Kaiba, I've heard of the saying that one should set free what they love; I've been there and done that. But maybe you need to free yourself first. You owe her an apology. I don't believe that you care about her after all."

"I told her to get out while she had the chance!" Seto retorted.

"That isn't what she wants!" Valon shot back. "But you could never understand. How could you understand someone so selfless like her when you don't even understand yourself?"

"Gardner lectures me enough; the last thing I need is for someone like to you to start lecturing me," Seto replied. "Keep an eye on her, got it?"

Valon looked outraged and tuned to his companions. "What gall!" he exclaimed. "What nerve!" He shot an angry glance at the CEO and stormed off.

"What's his problem?" Seto asked to no one in particular.

"Valon has a soft spot for the ladies," Alister explained.

"And he especially hates to see them hurt," Raphael added, coldly.

Seto ignored them; he wasn't expecting anything short of an outrage over how he had snubbed Téa. Probably, by this time the next day, he'd have an inbox full of angry emails from Joey, and perhaps even a frustrated message or two from his own brother to go along with it.

Once again, he was vaguely aware of the roar of three motorcycles as Valon, Alister, and Raphael left. His mind wasn't focused that much on it; his emotions were a mess. He gathered his thoughts, trying to clear his mind in the night air. He knew he had done what he should have done (there would have been no point in lying to her, or trying to sugarcoat the fact that he was afraid of what she was doing to his heart and personality), and yet he was unable to banish the feelings of remorse. Would he never be able to return to his old self?

"I need to get out of here," he decided. "There's no point in staying here; I may as well head for that meeting. I'll need the peace and quiet to deal with all of Wheeler's nasty letters."

He didn't wait for another moment; fortunately for him, he had not checked into a hotel yet, and so he returned to his jet and headed for Detroit.

Oddly enough, though, the slew of emails that he had been expecting never arrived. There could have been only one reason for it: Téa had not said a word of what had happened to anyone—not even the friends whom she cherished and preached about so much.

"Locking her problems away in the darkness," he thought. "That doesn't seem like her; that sounds more like…" His thoughts trailed off as he realized that the description seemed to fit him more than anyone else.

"Ah, there you are, Kaiba-boy," said Pegasus, who had apparently arrived shortly after him. But he wasn't in his usual good-natured mood; normally, Pegasus was annoyingly cheerfully, but today, he seemed to be slightly brusque and patronizing. Undoubtedly, he was expressing his disapproval concerning Seto's actions towards Téa the previous day. Unsurprisingly, Seto found himself indifferent to the other CEO's opinions.

"I know why I came here early," Seto replied, annoyed at Pegasus' presence (regardless of his current disposition). "Why are you here? Are you going to give me a lecture on how to talk to a lady?"

"No, but that doesn't mean that you don't require one urgently," Pegasus replied, with a slight frown. "If you asked me, I'd say that you reached a new low."

"Well, I didn't ask you," Seto retorted, through gritted teeth.

"Fine; I thought that this might interest you," said Pegasus, handing him the details of the meeting.

"This is the list of everyone who will be present," said Seto. "But I don't see what this has to do with…" He trailed off, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "'Keynote speaker to be a representative of the Dronyche Company, to speak in the place of Dronyche CEO Aranea Vulsor…' I don't believe this!"

"Yes, I thought so, too," said Pegasus. "Strange, isn't it?"

"Vulsor is in prison," Seto said. "I'd think that she'd have been fired after all of her criminal activity."

"Well, apparently, Kaiba, she isn't," the white-haired man replied. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Rare Hunters have something to do with this."

In spite of himself, Seto had to agree. This meeting was going to be an interesting one, to say the very least.

As Seto had predicted, Téa hadn't told a soul of the hurt that she was feeling. Although she suffered in silence, she refused to let it affect her dancing. Valon, Alister, and Raphael were supportive of her, attending the performance in San Francisco. Although they couldn't all go, Valon agreed to go to Portland with her to ensure that the Rare Hunters didn't try anything (Industrial Illusions had paid for his round-trip ticket as a thanks for the help that he, along with Alister and Raphael, had previously given to Pegasus).

"You have the weirdest friends," Aurus commented, after he saw her talking to Valon yet again. "That blue-haired fisherman in Sydney, and now this road warrior…"

"Apparently, he met the fisherman's dad, which is good, since he's been looking for him," Téa added. She smiled as Aurus tried mulling that piece of information over; he had the same look that Joey had whenever he started thinking too hard about something. "Don't bother trying to work that out," she advised him.

"Message received, understood, and obeyed!" Aurus replied, saluting her.

But speaking about Mako had reminded Téa about what he had said about the water element dancers not being as stylized as Mako would have liked. She brought this up with Valon when she met up with him by the edge of the Mount Tabor.

"I didn't pay much attention to them, honestly," said Valon, mulling it over. After borrowing Tea's handheld computer to send a quick email to Raphael and Alister (and waiting a few minutes for a reply), he added, "And the others didn't notice anything, either. But I need to give you credit in another area; I can't believe how well you're taking this Kaiba ordeal."

"What else can I do…?" she asked.

"Let me put it this way; isn't there something that's been said about the wrath of a woman scorned?"

"That isn't me," Téa replied. "Just like how it isn't Kaiba to accept my feelings for him. Maybe someday, he will finally understand."

"Don't hold your breath…" advised Valon. "Have you so much as heard from him these past few days?"

"No," she said. "I sent him an email saying that the next show after this one is going to be in Chicago. He didn't reply to it."

Valon muttered something under his breath before asking, "Why don't you just give up?"

"I can't give up on him," Téa said. "Look…" she pointed into the distance at Mt. Saint Helens. "That reminds me of Kaiba's heart."

"That's a volcano…" Valon said, his eyebrows raised..

"Exactly," she replied. "Day after day, all of the stress builds up inside that thing until, one day, it destroys itself. That's exactly what Kaiba is doing to himself; all of his inner darkness that his stepfather created keeps building up inside him. That's why I have to keep trying to get through to him before the unthinkable happens, and he becomes a thousand times worse than he is now."

"Call me mad, but I have faith in you."

"You do?"

"Wheeler was able to get through to Mai; he just kept on trying and trying until he was able to bring her back," he said. "Who knows; maybe you can pull off the same kind of miracle with Kaiba."

"I hope so," she said. "Well, I'd better be getting back to practice. We're doing a last run of rehearsals before tonight. I wonder if there'll be Rare Hunters in the audience; I know I saw some in San Francisco…"

"Don't you worry; they'll have to go through me first!" the spiky-haired brunet vowed.

There were Rare Hunters in the audience again; not only could Téa see them from the stage as she danced, she could also see Valon glaring at them suspiciously. But they weren't doing anything that made them seem as though they were sending or receiving information; they were just watching the dance.

Out of the corner of her eye, Téa kept her eye on the water element dancers. Mako had been right; they didn't seem to be that reminiscent of the water element at all. Their steps and stride did have a clear-cut rhythm, though; perhaps it was meant to mimic the movement of the waves.

But something felt odd; it seemed as though the steps of fire were identical to those of water.

"Come to think of it, all four of the elements seem to be the same; we just dance at different intervals," she thought. "Wow, that's some imagery; it's as though every element is the same, but different…"

She decided to forget everything and immerse herself into the steps and strides.

"Strange," she thought. "Why does this seem so familiar? I know that every dance is different, but something about seems like a case of déjà vu. A series of strides and steps, interwoven… that's almost like…"

Her eyes widened as an idea came to her. But it couldn't be true! It simply couldn't be! No plan could be this elaborate!

Téa focused harder on the steps as the performance progressed, and, to her utter shock, it seemed to confirm what she had begun to suspect, as unbelievable as it was. And if her theory was right, it explained how the Rare Hunters were getting their information; the strides seemed equivalent to dashes, and the short steps seemed equivalent to dots. And if this was true, it could only mean one thing: they were dancing in Morse code.