Disclaimer: I... own nothing. Yeah, don't care how lame this is-that's all I need to say.
A/N: Whoo! This is a fun story to work on. I think this feels a little forced, but I like the idea a lot. So... Read and Review, please!
Movement 2: Pleasing the Audience
She looked up at him, not at all intimidated by his tall stature, with a raging fire in her eyes. Joey snickered as he stood a little behind her, right along with Tristan and Yugi. "You are such a jerk!" she yelled, finger angrily poking his chest. "Why do you have to be so damn mean all of the time?"
"Yeah, tell him Téa!" Joey cheered, happy to finally see Kaiba get what had been coming to him for so long.
It was an average scene, one that replayed over and over again whenever the concerned parties happened to meet. Kaiba would sneer and antagonize- generally Joey, though Yugi was a prime target too- and then the "gang" would all gang up on the bullying brunette and proceed to give him such scathing verbal abuse that it should rightly leave scars.
Well... It used to be an average scene.
"I'm sick of you!" Téa seethed in a splendid display of anger.
(Display: a performance, show, or event for public entertainment- And she always put on quite a performance)
"You... you... you stupid... Kaiba!" she screamed.
(That certainly hadn't changed. She still had a tendency to scream his name, just... not for the same reasons.)
He sneered. "Spare me, Gardner. Can't even think of a better insult than that? How... Utterly droll. You really do become the company you keep."
(Another aspect that stayed the same. Snide jokes about Yugi and her friends were nearly as frequent as ever. And she still got just as mad.)
"Don't insult my friends, you arrogant piece of corporate garbage! You have no right to insult us- we never did anything to you!"
"Oh yeah!" Joey whooped. "That's right! You think that you're better than us, Kaiba, but you're not! You sure as hell are NOT! We're sick and tired of you, rich boy, so go back and sneer at somebody else while you count all your damn cards and money!"
Seto rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Can you muzzle the mutt, please? He's giving me a headache."
Téa glared at him. "Live with it, asshole."
He raised an eyebrow at that.
(She mouthed a quick "I'm sorry" and he had to refrain from rolling his eyes yet again.)
"I don't want this to turn into a big fight," Yugi- ever the pacifist- said, "so why don't we just stop this now? There's no need for undue insults Joey, and Kaiba obviously isn't interested in any friendly overtures Téa, so why don't we just leave him alone?" He took a step forward and bravely raised his head. "We're not scared of you, Kaiba, so don't try to intimidate us. You're just as guilty, so there's no need to be this hostile."
With a decisive nod, Joey and Tristan turned around and began walking away. "Smell ya later, Kaiba-boy!" Joey said tauntingly, giving a lovely finger-gesture over his shoulder as he walked.
Yugi looked at Joey and Tristan, at Kaiba and Téa, and then back. He sighed. "You coming Téa?" he asked. "I think Kaiba's taken enough of a lashing for one day."
As Yugi ran to catch up with Joey and Tristan, Seto quickly stepped towards her. "You did good," she said soothingly, "There's no need to get worked up."
"He called me 'Kaiba-boy' ", Seto seethed. "How dare that-"
Téa put a finger to his lips. "Let's just stop there, shall we? It doesn't matter; you fight with them all the time anyway! And they didn't seem suspicious- they don't know! Be grateful for that."
He shrugged reluctantly and said, "I... suppose."
She smiled quickly, and then headed after Yugi and the others. She winked at Seto over her shoulder, even as she walked loyally with her three best friends.
"Man, I can't stand him," Joey said. "Always picking on us and stuff. You'd think he'd get tired of it after awhile!"
"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "He's kinda got that weird obsessed stalker thing going on with Yugi."
Téa laughed. "Not gonna cut him any slack, huh?"
"Nope," Joey said proudly. "But you wouldn't either. You hate him as much as I do, right?"
"Oh, um..." She faltered for a moment, struggling with what to say. "Yeah, I- I guess I do."
And even though she felt bad for lying, there was nothing that could be done. The truth was too outrageous even for those guys. She and Seto were good actors- they had pulled off variations on the same scene over and over again. And while they were alone, they could be honest- they could be enemies, friends, lovers, or whatever they wanted to be. But when Yugi and the others- when anyone was there, it didn't matter what they wanted. All that mattered was keeping the audience happy, and that was exactly what they did.
End A/N: Alright, another one down. Tell me what you think, please, I really appreciate comments I get! The third chapter should be up soon; it's already written- go me! Alright, that's it!
ILB