NOTE: The standings:

TEA:

Seto: 31

(Yugi): 4

Noa: 1

SERENITY:

Mokuba: 21

Tristan: 1

We've had requests for more YugixTea and no YugixRebekah. I think we even had a SerenityxNoa request…but I can't remember if that was omitted or not. After this last chapter, we had a lot more YugixTea's come up, so I may keep up him on the vote…but I'm not sure.

Also, many of you mentioned the spelling of Rebekah. I know that in America, it's normally spelled Rebecca, but I like the other spelling better. I don't care if it's the Japanese version, but I still like my spelling version better, so I use it all the time instead of Rebecca. Okies? It just looks cooler. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 13: 'Round the Carousel Called Love

July 10

Noa woke up suddenly, felling his head come into sharp contact with something. He moaned and sat up, looking around. He had landed on the floor. Why on earth had that happened?

The boy stood up and looked at the bed. He frowned. Mokuba seemed to be used to having a bed to himself: not sharing one. He lay spread-eagle horizontally, snoring away. Noa sighed. Maybe Seto would let him be at peace in his bed. Mokuba sure wasn't about to let up any time soon. Noa grabbed his pillow and strode off to Seto's room.

He knocked on the door quietly, "Seto? Seto?" No answer. Noa scowled. Why were his brothers such heavy sleepers?

He knocked louder, "Seto? Seto!" He heard a mumble come from inside. Noa leaned against the door to hear it better:

"…Not even dawn yet…go away…." Noa grimaced. Boatload of help you are. Noa sighed and turned to go back to his room. Maybe he could shove Mokuba over…or off the bed (give him a taste of his own medicine)…and get back in. Noa reached the door and searched for his card-key. He stopped. Noa suddenly slumped to the floor, groaning. He had left the key in his room…. How stupid was he? Well, it was morning, and no one is really up in the mornings.

So, where would he sleep? An idea hit him. The couch downstairs in the lobby. Perfect. Noa gathered up his pillow and headed down, carefully navigating his way through the darkness on the stairs.

Tea looked at the time on the clock. It read 6:30. She sat up and stretched. She had already been lounging on her bed for the past hour: not much more to do. Tea decided it was time to rise and shine, so the saying went.

She hopped out of bed, and opened her door to head down to the hall for breakfast. She lightly tip-toed down the stairs and was on her way to the dining hall, when she stopped. Maybe she could get a breath outside first….

So she did just that. Tea loved to be outside on cool, crisp mornings. She stood on the front steps of the house for a few minutes. She always liked being outside. Sometimes, she even took nightly outings out here, when everyone was well asleep.

Soon, she walked back inside and headed to the hall. She ate alone, and quietly, and then returned to the lobby. What to do now? Everyone was still asleep…even Ryou, surprisingly.

She headed towards the couch, and being in a state of some unknown happiness, today, she turned around and hopped onto the back of the couch, sitting on the top rim of it. She swung her legs a little, while in thought.

What could she do today? What could she do…?

Still in the realm of her mind, she didn't notice that she was slipping off the edge of the couch. She gasped as she fell backwards off it. Of course, for all she knew, she was going to land on soft cushions and everything would be alright, like it was every other time she feel off the couches at her home and at her friends' places. However….

She didn't fall onto cushions. She ell onto something harder…more lumpy.

A sudden yell emerged from this lump and Tea cried out in shear surprise, while tumbling off this edge of the couch as well. Next thing she knew, she was lying with her back to the floor, and someone was practically on top of her. She opened her eyes, and saw large bluish-gray ones looking back at her.

"…N-Noa?" she finally stated.

"T-T-Tea?" he stuttered, starting to turn a couple shades of red.

"What are you doing down here?" she inquired.

"…I was sleeping."

"What? The bed too small for two kids?" she inquired, smirking.

"You could say that…" Noa diverted his gaze away, only slightly. Tea gave him an inquisitive look. "What I mean to say is…Mokuba literally kicked me out of bed. It hurt too…though I only really felt my face hitting the floor."

"And this time it was my head that hit the floor. You, on the other hand, hit me," Tea laughed. Noa however, didn't find it funny. In fact, the statement made him blush even more. (Think about the sentence….)

She stopped, when she didn't hear him laughing along, "What's wrong? I'm not very funny, I know, but I thought it was slightly humorous."

"Y-Yeah…funny…yeah…" Noa sweated out. Tea blinked a couple times, giving him the most innocent of puzzled looks. Noa didn't think he could get anymore red, but he was proved wrong.

"Noa…are you feeling sick or something?" she said, referring to his redness. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she reached up and felt his cheek to feel his temperature. Noa, as cliché as the action was, rose up another level on the redness scale. "Kid…what's wrong? Why is it that you turn all cherry every time I'm around?" Tea still wasn't getting the picture. Truth be told, she had forced out of her mind long ago that men could feel "that way" about her. She had shoved the thought out, and dislodged the notion that guys could like her when some punks had one day called her a few colorful names and told her that nobody would like a "…" like her. And being the young girl that she had been back then, she had thought it to be true.

"I…I…I" Noa couldn't bring himself to say it. He still felt her touch on him (just barely: his face was starting to go numb), as she felt his cheeks and forehead. "You…r-really wanna…know?"

"I would like to, yes," Tea nodded. Noa dropped a little closer to her, and her hand jerked away at the sudden action.

"Tea, I-"

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat rather loudly. Tea and Noa turned to look up at the intruder, who Noa was on the verge of killing at this point. All of the color in his face suddenly paled when he saw just who it was.

"B-Big brother…how nice it is to see you," Noa sweat. Indeed, Seto Kaiba stood over them, looking down on their positions rather disapprovingly.

"Gardner, what the crap do you think you are doing with my brother?" Seto tapped his foot impatiently.

Tea flushed, "I wasn't doing anything! I fell on top of him!" She soon realized that this sounded slightly…wrong (once Seto gave her a queer look) and amended the sentence, "That it to say, I fell off the couch, on him and he then fell onto me." It still didn't sound totally right, but it gave out the gist.

"Pray tell what you were doing on the couch…" Seto glared.

"I was sitting on the rim-"

"And I was asleep," Noa affirmed, sitting up, off Tea.

Seto raised an eyebrow, "Why were you sleeping down here? Isn't there a bed upstairs?"

"Mokuba sort of…claimed it," Noa said, as Tea sat up on her elbows, and laughed quietly.

Seto scowled a tad, "He has no right-"

"No, no, it's not like that. Mokuba unconsciously kicked me out…literally." Realization crossed Seto's face, and a small smile crossed his lips. Tea actually noticed how handsome –no- sexy…no…enticing that made him look. She swore her body temperature rose about ten degrees, though she had "no" idea why….

"He still does that? Reminds me of the time he kicked my back in my sleep," Seto winced, "That was painful. I think I was teaching him karate at the time…." Noa laughed. Tea bit her tongue to stop from laughing. Something told her she would receive the bad end of Seto's emotions if she broke in on their little brotherly discussion. In all sense, Seto seemed to have forgotten about Tea's presence. And she was just fine with that.

Or was she?

Yugi woke up when he heard a shriek come from downstairs. His first notion was to go down and see what happened, but his mind and legs didn't let him. They seemed to be cooping together to keep him rooted in bed. And boy was he happy for the action.

Yugi really didn't want to get out of bed right now. Anyway, knowing what time it was, it was probably Tea downstairs, and Ryou would help her, supposing it was they who were up.

He rolled over and tried to return to sleep. But sleep would not come to the small boy. So instead, his mind wandered over to the letter Rebekah had sent him. He knew she had a major crush on him. It was obvious: not only by the letter, but by the way she had received him in Domino, and the way she had clung to him in San Francisco, all during the fight against the Doom Squad.

But why? Why did she like him? It would be really difficult to tell her that he couldn't love her…due to the fact that his heart belonged to Tea. And if all went according to plan, Tea would love him.

If all went according to plan….

Yugi supposed her ought to begin thinking up just how he was going to break this to Tea. How could he tell her his feelings? When? Where? At what time?

It was then that Yugi heard groans coming from the room next to his: Joey's. He sighed. Still thinking that he could eventually go back to sleep, he decided to go give Joey a shove to shut him up. Yugi groggily got up out of bed, and headed over to Joey's room. He left his room and then turned to Joey's.

Joey always kept his door slightly open, for whatever reason. He told Yugi that one of the reasons was so that Serenity could come in and fetch him if she ever needed him, without having to knock futilely. Joey slept through everything, so knocking would be useless. Another reason, he had said, was so that Yugi could shut him up if he ever got too loud in his sleep. Joey knew how light a sleep Yugi was.

Yugi opened the door, and took one step inside before freezing. Obviously, Joey had forgotten that he might have wanted to lock the door that night, if he didn't want anyone intruding on him and his company.

Just the fact that Mai was lying against Joey, wrapped up in his arms, and wrapping her own arms around him, was enough to temporarily shut off Yugi's thoughts. The other factor, that Joey was just in his underwear (Duel Monsters boxers) and Mai had the skimpiest pajamas in the world (were they even her pajamas, Yugi wondered), was the second blow to him.

Yugi blinked a couple times. He couldn't believe it. Joey had actually done it…. He had actually gone to Mai…. And now, Yugi was going to have to fulfill his part of the deal. That would be difficult….

Yugi backed out, and shut the door, making sure to lock it, so that no one else would intrude upon them. He stepped back, and leaned against the door. He blinked and shook his head.

He couldn't believe it.

It had finally happened.

He had never thought those two would come to their senses.

Yugi felt both like jumping for joy for his friend, but at the same time, felt anxious over the fact of what he would have to do very soon….

The rest of the day had gone very accordingly. Somehow, word had spread that Joey and Mai were together now. Even though, once they had woken up and looked at each other sort of unbelievingly, and unconvinced, the two couldn't argue with the fact that they were now and item.

Yugi had sent his letter to Rebekah.

Mokuba apologized to his brother for shoving him out of bed (though Noa sort of amended it, saying he wouldn't have gotten into his position with Tea if he hadn't done otherwise).

Seto had received Tea's laptop to do some more work for Kaiba Corp.

Mai, Serenity and, unfortunately for him, Ryou had also spent some of the day perfecting their "plan" for Tea.

Tristan was thinking up ways to win over Serenity, with no butt in from Duke, surprisingly. He was beginning to wonder what was up with dice-boy. They were always grappling over heart for the girl. But recently, he seemed to have dismissed the entire notion of doing so.

But Tristan was just fine with that.

For it was on that night that he asked a most strange request of the girl.

"Serenity," he spoke to her quietly, at dinner, "Would you favor me with a nice…say…stroll down the beach after dinner?"

She gave him an inquisitive look, "Since when did you become all sophisticated?"

"Is that a bad thing? Do you not like it?" Tristan pulled back and a look of panic crossed his face.

"No, silly! I was just wondering; that's all!" she laughed. Her laugh resulted in some stares from others placed at the time. One of hem including Joey, who was warily watching Tristan. Another, more discreetly hidden gaze was coming from Mokuba's direction.

Yugi suddenly entered that dining hall, just a tad late.

"Well look who finally showed up!" Joey scolded.

"Sorry, I was-"

"Writin' a letta to ya girlfriend?" Joey smirked. He, Duke and Tristan broke out in laughter.

"Guys! That's not funny!" Yugi flushed, balling his hands into fists. "Besides," he added quietly, "I already did that."

Joey stopped, "You wha'? Yug, I was just kiddin'…."

"Well I wasn't. Anyway, she's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend…who happens to be a girl…kinda like Tea," a blush was added to his flush here, though it wasn't noticed much, except by those who knew of his like for the girl, "and Rebekah just happens to be…umm-"

"Infatuated with you?" Tea laughed softly.

"To put it lightly," Yugi rolled his eyes. He received some more bursts of laughter from the table, and an eye roll from Seto.

So, after dinner, Serenity did accompany Tristan for that walk along the beach. Even though the beach house's property didn't extend the whole length of the beach, the visitors however, were welcome to walk along it, or do whatever they please (save vandalizing it).

It was around the end of sunset that Tristan took Serenity's arm and led her off. That's when Joey grabbed Mai's arm and pulled her along.

"Joseph Wheeler, where are we going?"

"Ta watch out fer ma sista'," Joey replied.

"Hun, she's perfectly capable of handling everything herself. Besides! She's with Tristan! Don't you trust your best friend?"

"Alone? Yes. With Serenity? No."

"Why don't you trust him?" Mai sighed, wishing not to spend her time outside at the moment.

"Think of all da tings he cold do ta her!" Joey protested.

"Like what!" Mai suddenly planted her feet firmly on the ground, and tugged her arm away from Joey's grasp.

"Like…" Joey fumbled, "Lots of stuff! I could give ya a whole list! He could…flirt wit' her…try an' kiss 'er-"

"Get with the program Joey! He tries to do that all the time!" Mai sighed. Joey tensed.

"…He does?" His eyes narrowed. "Interesting…." Mai immediately shut her mouth. She didn't like where this was going.

Joey suddenly turned to Mai, "Look, Mai. Could ya do me just this little teensy weensy fava'? Please?" he pouted. Mai gave him a "you're-not-going-to-cut-it-with-that-one look. Suddenly, Joey put a whole new face on. "Well then…maybe you'll change your mind after dis…." He slowly placed his lips on hers, and began massaging her back with great care. Mai shivered and tensed, yet slowly relaxed in his arms.

So it was with tenderness shown towards Mai that Joey was able to lead her secretly behind Tristan and Serenity. They kept their distance, but were close enough to see what was going on. At some times, they could also hear what was being said. Luckily, that wasn't all of the time.

Tristan and Serenity were about one-fifth of the way along their little walk. (Tristan had scoped out how long they would walk earlier.) It was then that Tristan decided to take some light action. He slowly snaked his arm around her waist, and pulled the girl closer to him as they walked. Serenity barely even noticed. Let's just say that her mind was…elsewhere.

"So," Tristan said, wishing to break the silence, "umm…what's up?"

"Hm?" Serenity snapped out of her trance, "Oh! Nothing much, I don't think. What about you?"

This clearly wasn't the answer Tristan had been looking for, "Um, same here, yeah." He paused, trying to recover from that lame question and answer, "Well…I never heard exactly how your dinner with Duke went. How was it?"

"Oh, that? You mean he didn't tell you?" Serenity asked. Tristan shook his head. "I thought you two were like…the best of friends."

"So to speak," Tristan replied, "But really: what went on?"

"Oh, well…." Thus Serenity began her tale.

Joey didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. Tristan was getting really flirty with her; with the arm around the waist thing and the small-talk crap and whatever else he had planned.

And Joey desperately wanted to stop it.

"Joey, hold on a sec," Mai said next to him. She caught his attention. Mai knew what he was thinking about the two ahead of them. "You can't stop what they're doing. It's natural, for crying out loud! Everybody does this sort of thing at least once! Look at us! Joey, you can't always be there for your sister on these little date-like things. Think about it. Are you going to trail and track her down every time she goes out when she's like…twenty-five or something? You just can't do that Joey!" Mai ended her little speech.

"I agree."

Mai stopped, totally shocked. "Joey? Excuse me, but what did you just say?"

"What? I didn't say nothin'," Joey looked up from his crouched position.

"Then who-" Mai got a sinking feeling when someone suddenly tapped her shoulder. She spun around, and was face-to-face with-

"Duke! What're you doin' here?" Joey inquired.

"Hey, just because Serenity doesn't like me, doesn't mean I can't spy on those two and try to see if there's someway to pry them apart."

"…I'm confused," Mai replied, "If you agree with me…then why are you acting like-"

"Me!" Joey pointed proudly to his chest, "Welcome to the squad, dice-boy," he stopped suddenly, "Wait. Whadd'ya say 'bout Serenity not likin' ya?"

Duke shrugged and diverted his gaze, "She sorta…rejected me at that dinner I took her out to."

"Oh…" Joey gave a solemn nod for his friend. But on the inside, he was rejoicing. Mai knew this oh too well. She turned to Joey, and gestured to Duke to give them a minute.

Mai grabbed Joey's ear and pulled it down harshly, hearing little whimpers of pain come to her ears, "Look Joe, I know this pleases you. But if you're not going to let her be with Tristan or Duke, who will you let her be with? They're some of your best friends and you won't even let them have their privacy?"

Joey thought it over for a minute, "Well, if Yug stopped likin' Tea, and Tea stopped likin' Yug and Rebekah stopped likin' Yug and Serenity started likin' Yug, then maybe we'd have a good go at it there. So: no broken hearts there," Joey smiled proudly.

"So you'd rather have her go out with Yugi-. Wait. What did you say about Tea? And Yugi?"

"Hmm? Well, didn't ya know? Yug's got a maja' crush on Tea-" Joey stated, Mai's face paling, "and hopefully…and kinda obviously, Tea likes Yugi. Capice?"

"Wait a minute…. Yugi likes…Tea?" Mai looked slightly guilty. That's not good…. If we continue on with this…albeit, "evil"…plan, and then…Yugi's heart will break if…we succeeded in getting Tea and Kaiba together…or if he saw what we're putting them up to. Oh not good…. And what if…Tea really does like Yugi? It would make a whole lot of sense! They've known each other for practically…forever! She barely even knows Kaiba…. But all of the proof…or evidence…or whatever it is, that our trio came up with…doesn't that mean anything? ARGH! WHY MUST EVERYTHING BE SO…COMPLICATED AND CONFUSING?

"Mai, what's wrong?" Joey asked, concerned.

"Nothing," Mai swatted the thoughts away, "Just taking in the new info. Thanks…" I think.

"Yo, guys. Hate to interrupt, but those two are…how should I put this…getting close?" Duke sounded aggravated.

"What?" Joey spun around. He crept a little closer to where they were. Thus, he began to pick up snippets of their conversation:

"So to speak," Tristan stated, "But really: what went on?"

"Oh, well…. Let's see," Serenity began to ponder, and Tristan pulled her a little closer once they had sat down on the beach. Tristan could tell this would be quite the tale, so why not sit and stay with her longer?

"Well, first, as you know, he took me to dinner," she stated, obliterating the fact that he had tried to get close to her, "and then, we started to come back here." Started, Joey questioned in his thoughts. "See…I've got my permit…so I asked Duke if I could drive…with him in the passenger seat, of course. So, he said yes."

Joey spun around and glared at the Dungeon Dice Monsters creator. Duke shrugged sheepishly and gave a pathetic little wave. The ebony-haired man figured it was probably time to leave this little squad, if he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Joey's anger once he heard about the accident, figuring that Serenity would go and blab it all. He began to crawl away when a hand landed on his shoulder, pulling him backwards. Duke turned, and sure enough, it was Joey's death-gripped hand that was tugging him.

"You: stay," Joey growled. Duke nodded in quick agreement.

"But, it turns out…there was this intersection that we were heading for. If Duke hadn't been there to point it out, I would have been in a three-car-crash," Serenity told Tristan. Tristan's eyes widened. Joey's fist clamped up even tighter (as if it could even get any tighter!). His own death-in-heck glare came round to Duke: sparks seeming to fly straight from the fire in Joey's eyes. Duke's own eyes widened.

"Joey! Duke saved Serenity! Didn't you hear her?" Mai intervened.

"Yeah! But he let her drive AND almost got into an accident because of it!" Joey ground out.

"But, Duke did save us. We were about a foot away from the two-car collision. However, Yugi's car did get a few scratches, so we had to bring it to a repair shop. Then, we called Mai asking her to come pick us up."

"So that was who was on her phone:" Tristan scratched his chin thoughtfully, "very clever. And that explains Yugi's car. And Duke's jumpiness around Yugi and Joey that morning. Very clever…."

"Yeah…" Serenity dropped off.

"So…did Duke…um…saying anything to you that night?" Tristan inquired.

"What exactly do you mean?" Serenity thought she knew where this was going.

"Like…did he…say he really liked you or something?" Tristan uncomfortably asked.

"He…might have said something about that," Serenity put some hair behind her ears.

"Oh…and…how did you reply?"

"…Um…I said I liked him-" Tristan's face fell, "as a friend." Tristan's face lit up again.

"Really? I mean…I see," Tristan nodded. He then turned towards Serenity and lowered his head nearer to her height, "Serenity…."

Joey suddenly stood up. He knew what Tristan was doing. He was going to smack-dab kiss her! He started walking over there, but the combined forces of Mai and duke both pulling back on his shirt and arms halted him.

"Joey, get your butt down here!" Mai scolded.

"He's a gonna kiss 'er!" Joey retorted.

"So what! Get down!" she gave a firm tug to his arm and pulled him back down to earth.

Serenity, meanwhile, was in a most familiar predicament. Duke had done this same thing…. Except, this time, Tristan wasn't the one who was tipsy.

"Um…Tristan?" she started. He just smiled faintly at her, getting closer and closer.

Not him…NOT NOW! Somewhere, inside Serenity's mind, a voice screamed this at her. She suddenly stood up in front of him, and he looked up abruptly.

Saved by the bell, Serenity thought. It was true too…though the nose she had heard wasn't exactly a bell….

"Tristan…I heard something," Serenity looked over towards the squad's direction. Mai scowled at Joey, who shrugged and gave her an apologetic and sheepish look.

"What?" Tristan stood up and began walking over that way.

The squad panicked. Mai quickly shoved Duke into some shrubbery nearby, and then grabbed Joey.

Tristan peered over the fallen log and gazed upon the sight of Mai lying on top of Joey, kissing the life out of him. Joey looked partially dumbstruck, and partially in heaven.

"Mai?" Tristan looked confused. His gaze narrowed, "Joey? What are you two doing here?"

Mai suddenly looked up, "A little privacy here? We were here first, you know!"

"You were?" Serenity came up beside Tristan. She had a slightly scared look on her face, "Didn't you guys hear us, though?"

"Might have heard something," Mai shrugged. Tristan and Serenity exchanged glances.

"Maybe we ought to keep going on our walk-" Tristan began to suggest.

"Or go back," Serenity intervened.

"…Okay," Tristan looked a tad downtrodden. On the inside, both Joey and Duke

rejoiced.

"We'll walk back with ya," Joey propped himself up on his elbows, "After all, it is getting' kinda late," he said, looking at the darkened sky.

"Right you are," Tristan replied a bit stiffly and coolly. Mai nodded to Duke to motion to him to follow them from behind by sneaking around.

The four (plus Duke) returned to the beach house. Almost reaching the door, Serenity peered behind her and briefly saw Duke skirting into a bush. She frowned slightly and suddenly asked, "Joey? Why were you, Mai and Duke spying on us?"

"'Cause I wanted to, and Duke just appeared-" Joey stopped when Mai suddenly jabbed him in the chest hard.

"I knew it!" Serenity stopped and pointed an accusing finger at Joey. "Joey? Why can't you ever just leave me alone for a minute? I know you care, but…I've gotta live my own life!"

"Serenity-" Joey reached out to her.

"No! Just go away! Leave me alone!" Serenity tore away from the group and ran inside.

"SERENITY, WAIT!" Joey yelled and ran after her. Serenity ran past a most startled Ryou in the lobby, and tore up the stairs, past another anxious Yugi. She looked behind her to see how far Joey was from her. She didn't' want him here. She wanted to be alone-

She stopped as she smacked into someone hard. She stumbled backward, but two hands caught her arms. She looked up.

"Mokuba?" she inquired.

"Serenity, why are you-"

"No time," she whipped out her card-key, stuck it into her door lock, and rushed inside, breaking free of his grasp. The door was just about to slam shut when Mokuba stopped it by nudging his foot between the frame and the door, albeit, painfully. He noticed Joey, Mai, Tristan and Duke running up the stairs, and quickly let himself into Serenity's room, closing the door softly behind him.

Serenity didn't even look up. She knew who it was. She patted the place on the bed next o her, to signal for Mokuba to sit down. He hesitantly did so, sitting right next to her.

"So…what's up?" Mokuba inquired slowly.

"My brother won't give me an once of privacy or freedom," Serenity scowled.

"He won't?" Mokuba frowned, "I know how overprotective older brothers can be…but that's a bit harsh."

"Don't I know it," she sighed, putting her head in her hands. Mokuba blinked, and very slowly, let his hand rest on her left shoulder (he was sitting on her right). She looked up suddenly at him. He backed his hand off, but she smiled and shook her head.

"No, no, I didn't mean to startle you. It's okay, you're fine. It just…took me by surprise, a little," she turned back to face the floor. Major de ja vu, she thought back to her dream.

"Serenity, are you alright?" Mokuba inquired, putting his free hand on her other shoulder, and leaning down slightly, all the while, unknowingly scooting closer to her.

It feels…just like that dream… Serenity reacted to Mokuba's consolation, Just like that stupid confusing dream! She suddenly started to cry, and buried her face in Mokuba's shoulder. He stiffened, and blushed madly, but welcomed the feeling of intimacy.

"You need a day off," Mokuba replied softly, "Away from everyone…and Joey. I'll take you somewhere tomorrow: somewhere in town, wherever the closest one is," Mokuba stated.

Serenity looked up at him, her eyes red, "You'd do that? For me?"

"Of course," Mokuba nodded, "You're my friend and I lo-er-care about your welfare," Mokuba recovered from blurting out his big secret.

"That's very sweet of you…but how would we get anywhere? Permits won't do us any good without having a licensed driver in a car." They sat in silence for a moment, thinking. Suddenly, Mokuba looked confused.

"What's that noise?" he looked towards the left wall; the wall adjacent to Tea's room.

"Oh, it's just Tea's music. She blasts it…well, doesn't blast it…but the walls are pretty thin, and she dances around. Sometimes, I swear I even here her sing. She's pretty good…not only at singing, but at all the fine arts," she smirked inwardly, thinking about how this played as evidence for Mai, Ryou and her hypothesis on how Tea liked Seto. "Yeah…she can draw, dance, and is pretty good at singing. Who knows…maybe she can even act," Serenity couldn't help but to smirk.

But Mokuba wasn't really paying attention to this. He suddenly turned to Serenity: a grin on his face, "What if we asked Tea to take us? She could…drop us off and pick us up later."

"Oh, that's perfect! Tea'll do anything for anybody!" she smiled. "Come on!" she grabbed Mokuba's hand (much to his liking) and went to the door. She slowly peeked out of it, and saw the coast as clear. Then, she and Mokuba crept out and walked over to Tea's door. Serenity had to pound on it for Tea to hear the knocking. The music ceased abruptly, and the door opened up.

"It's about time you returned-" Tea stopped. "Oh! It's you two! Hey!" Tea sweat-dropped.

"Expecting someone else?" Serenity gave Tea a playful smirk.

"Of course not!" Tea fibbed.

"Then who did you think we were?" Mokuba asked.

"Nobody. Come on in," she ushered the two inside. Tea then shut the door.

"So, what do you two want?"

"Tea?" Serenity stepped forward, "Where's the nearest city…or town…or whatever?"

"Umm…Tokyo, I think," Tea replied, "About half and hour away or something."

"Could you take us there tomorrow?" Mokuba stepped up.

Tea tilted her head, "Why? And…why me? I don't have a car. Yugi, Mai and Kaiba are the ones with the cars."

"Well," Serenity said, "I've sort of had a little…quarrel with Joey, Mai and Duke. So I can't ask Mai to drive us."

"Seto wouldn't drive us, I'm sure, if he knew Serenity was coming along…no offense to you, of course," Mokuba recovered, "and still. I think we should be out bright and early, and you can't count on Seto for that."

"Yugi?" Tea inquired.

"Well…to tell you the truth, I'd feel better if you drove us, more than if Yugi did. I mean, I guess, Tea, you're sort of like an older sister to me, kind of like Joey regards you as a sort of sister, too."

"Really?" Tea eyed them. A small smirk crossed her features. They're just beginning to feel that teen love, aren't they? Besides…Serenity has been "thinking" about Mokuba lately. Why not? Maybe "something" will come out of all this. "I'd be happy to. I'll ask Yugi for his car. I'm sure he trusts me more than Duke. Just be sure to be downstairs at say…seven in the morning?"

"Sounds good to me," Mokuba nodded. Serenity agreed.

"In that case, does one of you have a cell phone? Or both of you, just to be safe?" Tea asked, "so you can call me when you guys want to be picked up," Tea said.

"I've got one," Mokuba replied.

"I don't. Joey won't let me have one," Serenity scowled.

"Well, at least one of you does. Maybe I can sneak out Tristan's for Serenity. He won't notice that it's gone missing. He never does," Tea shrugged. "I'll give your brothers both a story that sounds reasonable for your disappearance, okay? That sound good?"

"Perfect!" the younger two replied.

"Great! See you tomorrow. Night!" Tea opened the door for them. Mokuba noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a photograph, lying on the bed. He was just about to get a slightly closer look at it, when Tea practically pushed them out. The two headed back to their rooms. Once their doors were shut, Tea sighed, leaning against the door. How did she weave herself into these things all the time? It wasn't that she didn't want to help: it was just a lot of work on her part.

"What was all that about?" a voice suddenly popped up. Tea jumped and looked up from the floor. Across the hall, Seto stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. His arms were folded across his chest, but he was still holding a most familiar case to Tea, in one of his hands.

"…Nothing."

Seto gave her that I-don't-believe-you look.

Tea sighed, "Come on, can I just have my laptop back? You're not the only one with work to do on it."

"I'd say our definitions of work differ greatly," Seto stood straight, and walked across the hall, handing it to Tea.

"Thanks," Tea replied, looking up (and I mean UP) at him. His gaze bore down into her own eyes. Tea felt her head go light. Why was it doing that lately when she was around him…looking into his eyes like that?

Her hand flexed open and closed at her side, as if deciding whether to reach up and grab his collar or not, and pull him into a-

No! Tea thought frantically. What the heck was she thinking?

"Night," Tea suddenly stated, and stepped back into her room, shutting the door in front of him. Seto stood there for a moment, and then turned back to retreat into his room.

Serenity smiled magnificently from her doorway. She had watched it all through a small crack in the door. She looked over to the stairs, and winked at Ryou, who had also seen the whole thing. Ryou gave her a weak smile, and a wobbly thumbs up.

How was that? It was really just a "haphazard" chapter, if you get my rift. All in all, I just had to throw together some ideas; and that Mokuba and Serenity going out tomorrow just suddenly hit me like a sack of potatoes. PLEASE REVIEW!