Title: Razzle Dazzle

Part: Chapter 02

Author: Svelte Rose

Comments: Holy crap, how long has it been since I last wrote a S/A fic or even a part to my fics? Only speaking rhetorically, of course. Anyways, I don't own the YGO characters. Mweh.

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Pride. Some say it bordered the line of arrogance. To others, it was just a nice way of saying you were stubborn.

Téa thought it was neither. To her, it was a matter of self-esteem; how high she regarded herself.

"Where are you going?"

"To the same room I always go to,"

"Hn." He grunted before turning to his other side, away from her and sleeping.

She didn't even bother putting on her pants. She just wanted to get out of the room.

Pride.

It was probably all she had left.

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"Téa, could you possibly help me with this problem?" Whispered a voice as it brought the brunette out from her thoughts.

Téa blinked several times before smiling up to her calculus classmate, Tim, from discussion group and nodded, "Sure," she whispered back. It was necessary to keep the noise down to a minimum; after all, they were in the library. Having quickly scribbled down the equation to get the answer, she allowed Tim to skim over the equation.

"Um…sorry to bother you but why would you use this formula?" He blushed as he bent down next to her while she took the paper back from him.

"It's no problem at all," She smiled again at him, "All you need to do is…"

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"You were getting pretty close with him,"

"What does it matter?" She questioned her voice thick with weariness as she set down her pencil to stare up at the towering figure before her. The topic on hand…an occurrence that had happened several hours ago. One Téa paid no mind to since it happened practically everyday.

All she received was a blank, cold stare.

Turning back to her work, Téa answered, sighing heavily, "Just a classmate, he needed help with some of his calculus homework."

"People go to this university because they already know that stuff. If not, then they should be able to figure it out,"

The first strains of annoyance started to creep through her nerves, adding to the already pounding headache she had before he arrived, "Why does it matter so much Kaiba?"

"I don't want other people touching my property,"

Normally, Téa would've kicked the living daylights out of any man that said this to her. With him, circumstances as they stood, she didn't have a right, however…she still couldn't help making a snide comment back at him, "What the hell kind of girl do you think I am?"

He smirked, leaning over the desk and bringing his face right up in front of hers. (She never even flinched.) "Stop acting so pure and innocent, Gardner. We know it's far from what you are,"

She didn't stir or anything; the blood quickly drained out of her face.

"After all, I am paying you to-,"

Her hand went flying across air and as soon as it made contact, a loud crack reverberated through the air. If she couldn't kick the living crap out of him, this would have to do.

Silence reigned supreme as the CEO slowly turned his head back, a thumb making its way up to wipe away the blood that had appeared at the corner of his mouth. A strange light appeared in his eyes as he stared at the blood and then at the motionless brunette standing before him.

Téa finally flinched and backed away as he jerked his body to the right to maneuver his way around the desk, towards her.

Oh god, what was he going to do now?

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"Hello?" He spoke as he knocked softly on the door. He could hear a bit of rustling around and then quick steps as the door swung open. "Oh, Téa, just the person I was looking for,"

"James, hey, what a surprise," She breathed heavily as though she'd just run a marathon.

He studied her face, rather concerned as he handed a pack of papers to her, "Are you alright? You seem a bit pale,"

"No, I'm fine really, thank you," She smiled, features brightening up a bit.

James was relieved. Really, her smile could bring a smile to anyone's face, "Oh, hello Kaiba, sorry, didn't see you there,"

The tall man nodded congenially, "Quite alright, Gardner was only asking me if I was willing to do an interview for next month's issue,"

The blond man's eyes widened, "I hope she succeeded!"

Téa lifted her head from the stack of papers she'd been reading, "And as always, he declined," She quickly added, looking at James with another bright smile.

"Quite the contrary," Kaiba replied before James could offer another reaction. "I've decided to agree,"

James nodded enthusiastically, "That's great!"

"On the condition that Gardner does the interview, of course,"

"She's not one of our reporters though," James responded, somewhat confused.

"I know," Concluded the tall man as he stepped out of his office.

"But-," James was stopped by a soft hand on his arm. "Gardner?"

"It's okay, let me take care of it. I know you guys have wanted this interview for several months now for the school, right?" Téa patted his arm, "I think I can handle it,"

"If you're sure about it…"

"I am,"

"Well it was nice meeting you…John?" Kaiba finally spoke.

"Er…James."

"Right." He didn't really care. Turning to Téa, he smiled briefly before offering his hand to her, "Miss Gardner, a pleasure meeting you also. Do tell me when and where we should meet for this. I shall try to accommodate you,"

"Of course," She responded, albeit coldly, shaking his hand once before quickly releasing. What a sick liar. They saw each other every single day. Even though James seemed to be in awe of the man, she was able to see through every façade.

She especially hated it when he smiled.

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2:15 am.

She really shouldn't be here this late. There wasn't a time limit but being one that lived off-campus, sitting in the common room of a university dorm hall doing work that wasn't due for several weeks…Nobody cared, really. They were either sleeping, leaving their rooms for a frat party, coming back from one, or if they were just hanging around, they had matters of their own to worry about rather than just some brunette sitting in a common room.

2:25 am.

If only she could run away to a land where she only had to worry about her grades and when her next dance performance was.

Maybe once that was possible.

A quiet shuffle of papers resounded softly through the halls, bothering no one, even those bored enough to listen.

2:30 am.

Better late then never.

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As soon as she entered through the French double doors in the back, her arm was yanked from her and books scattered around the kitchen floors. Immediately, she started to tug back, almost panicking as she protested, "Let me go, Kaiba,"

She was yanked even harder up the stairs as the iron grip refused to loosen itself.

"Dammit Kaiba, I said to let me go!" She planted herself on a step but no matter how strong she was, he was stronger. He practically lifted her up the last step, the iron grip even tighter, if possible.

"Please," She begged as she was pulled into the room.

The slamming of two wooden doors echoed through the mansion as a discernible click followed quickly after.

Any and all sounds made thereafter would be muffled by the hi-tech sound-proof walls, doors, and windows.

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As soon as she was thrown onto the bed, she quickly tried to crawl to the other side. The silk sheet provided some amount of friction for her to move but when he took hold of her ankle, it broke any surface tension her knees had with the sheets as she slipped.

Breathing ragged now, tears threatening to fall, Téa tried to shake his hand off before kicking his arm.

He released his hold; a growl escaped from the confines of his throat, "Get back over here, Gardner!"

"NO! Not until you calm down!" She almost felt sorry for kicking him, especially when she still had her heels on. Falling off the bed (while cursing the silk sheets), Téa quickly scrambled to her feet.

Unfortunately, it was all he needed to lunge across the bed and get a hold of her waist just as she stood up. Yanking her back, he wrapped two arms around her as her arms and legs went wild.

She didn't go down silently as she kicked and grunted, digging her nails into his arms while sweat dripped down her neck. Arm started to flail but it didn't do her any justice. He was able to avoid every flying limb.

The damn bastard didn't even flinch when she dug her nails into his skin. He flipped her over and laid his entire weight over her slender form. A little cry escaped her mouth when she saw the strange, predatorial glint in his eyes and the smirk-bearing teeth (all seen courtesy of what little moonlight was able to make its way into that large room).

It as all that escaped from her mouth before his lips came crashing down on hers.

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End Notes: I hadn't worked on this story for the longest time due to the fact that I had absolutely no idea where I was going with it. Last night, while listening to an old 90s song, I finally figured out how this was going to end and everything in between! Woot! Not that that'll make chapters come out faster but still, at least I have direction now.

Ah yes, if you guys realize the inaccuracies, it's because this isn't set in the original YGO plotline. I'm not even sure if the other guys will show up or not…maybe. We'll see.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! This is Svelte, signing out.