Peneia Teke: Hey Everyone! I'm so excited! It's Christmas Eve, and it finally snowed! NINE FRIGGIN' INCHES, though some places in Southern Indiana got up to twenty. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever feel like winter. If you haven't noticed already, I'm attempting to distract you from the fact that I haven't updated in about a month and a half. Did it work? No? Dang! (sigh) Well, I tried.
I was very pleasantly surprised about the amount of feedback I got on the last chapter. I'm hoping that means you guys liked it?
Just to let you guys know, I may change the genre of this fic from humor to drama because it's about to take a really dark twist. I'll still put in the snide comments and stuff I usually do, but the plot line is going to get darker starting with this chapter.
Ok, enough talk. Go and read!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
/Yami talking to Yugi/
Chapter Seven
An icy shiver coursed down Tea's spine. The man was most certainly not Seto Kaiba, and there was no way in hell he could be mistaken for Mokuba. He appeared to be in his early forties with a slightly muscular build. His dirty blonde hair was jelled up in spikes, and his eyes were hidden behind tinted sunglasses. The fake smile plastered to his face made Tea uneasy, and his stance made her want to back up a few steps despite their already elongated distance.
With the decision that he was neither Kaiba brother, Tea could think of only two possibilities as to who this man was. Either he was someone who worked for Kaiba personally, or he was… well, she really didn't want to think of the second possibility. She just hoped he was someone who worked for Kaiba.
"A friend of Mokuba's perhaps?"
The sound of the man's voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she focused her baby blue eyes on him once more. He was looking at her expectantly, almost apprehensively, waiting for her reply. "Um, yeaaah… I'm a friend of Mokuba's. Is-is he here?" Of course, she already knew the answer, but this guy didn't know that.
"Actually the k-ah, Master Mokuba is… out with a friend at the moment, but I'll tell him you dropped by."
"Uh, thanks." Tea inwardly flinched. He obviously didn't work for Kaiba, or he'd have known that Mokuba was at soccer practice. Perhaps, he was simply misinformed? She hoped so.
The man continued staring at her expectantly, and she just cocked an eyebrow.
"I need a name to give him, little girl."
"Right." She decided right then and there that she didn't like him. Awfully pushy for a butler or whatever he's supposed to be. Kaiba must have been drunk when he hired him. She scrambled to come up with a fake id. "My name's Ma-Mazaki, Anzu Mazaki." She grinned inwardly. Joey and Tristan would be proud. "But, on second thought, you don't have to go through the trouble of giving him a message. It wasn't very important." As her blonde friend would say, she didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, and something was warning her that he was trouble.
The man nodded. "I'm sorry to sound rude, but visitors are not permitted to roam the perimeters without Mr. Kaiba's consent. I'll escort you to the door."
"Oh, it's ok," she replied. "I'll just let myself out." She slipped from the room and, having no clue at all where she was going or even why she was really here in the first place, turned left and started heading down another random hall.
Kaiba gazed at the window. Clusters of raindrops gathered together and slid down out of sight, leaving remnants of water behind. It had just begun to rain, and he was glad to be going home. There was nothing more he hated than being stuck at KaibaCorp during a thunderstorm. It played on his mood and made his office feel more dreary than usual.
Pedestrians walking down the sidewalk with brightly colored umbrellas glanced up whenever they caught sight of the limo, and he was glad it had tinted windows. He liked his privacy.
Kaiba leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. His back and neck muscles were tight from stress, and he rolled his shoulders a few times to loosen them. It didn't do much good, and the suggestion Mokuba had made about going to a masseuse was beginning to sound like a favorable idea. Of course, that meant he'd have to take a few hours off work, which was unacceptable, but he needed to do something to relieve some of his tension. He was beginning to get a migraine.
Kaiba's mind began to wander, and he found himself wondering what it would be like to feel Tea's delicate hands on his back as she pressed her body close to his and murmured comforting words into his ear.
His eyes shot open, and he sat up straighter in his seat. Where had that come from? Was he so stressed that he was starting to fantasize himself with his rival's little friend? Yes, that must be it. If all else fails, blame it on work.
Besides, Tea never spoke quietly, or at least not when he was around. She was either shouting in his face, or shouting in the Mutt's face, or ranting about one thing or another. It was rather annoying really, which was part of the reason he couldn't stand her.
He ignored the little voice that told him he was only fooling himself and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He would never stoop so low as to admit he felt something for Yugi Mouto's personal cheerleader.
A low growl emitted from his throat as he felt the limo steadily decreasing speed. He pushed the intercom that connected him to the front of the vehicle and barked, "Why the hell are we slowing down, Roland?"
There was a slight hesitation as Roland had not been expecting to have his ears chewed off by his boss. "Traffic jam, sir," he finally replied.
Kaiba balled his hand into a fist and ended the connection between him and his driver. This was not looking up to be a good evening.
"Grandpa, I'm home!" Yugi shouted as he, Joey, and Tristan walked into the Turtle Game Shop and crowded around the counter where Solomon Mouto was usually found working the cash register. He frowned in disapproval when he noticed the small room was empty. Where's Grandpa? Anyone could have just walked in here and taken something! "Grandpa?"
Joey on the other hand wasn't paying attention. His acute sense of smell was working overtime, and he was too busy sniffing the air to notice anything wrong. He closed his eyes as a delicious aroma tickled his nose, unable to place what it was. "Mmm mmmmmm… somethin' smells good!"
"Is that you, Yugi?" a voice called from the kitchen unit, located behind the store itself. Solomon appeared before them with a look of relief on his face. "It's about time you boys came home. I was starting to worry."
Yugi smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Grandpa. We met up with Tea and Mai at a café in town and lost track of time."
Solomon nodded. "That's ok. Just call home first next time, alright?"
"Grandpa," Yugi said, crossing his arms. "Don't you think it'd be easier if I had a cell phone? That way we wouldn't have these miscommunications."
Solomon rolled his eyes and sighed. "Not this again! Yugi, we've been over this a hundred times."
"Come on, Grandpa," Yugi argued and threw his hands in the air in frustration, "everyone has a cell phone. It would make things so much easier."
"Maybe for your birthday."
"But that's so far away….."
"A month isn't that long."
"Come on, Grandpa!"
"Yugi, we'll talk more about this tonight. Right now I need you to do a few things for me."
Yugi sighed. "Ok."
Joey took the pause as an opportunity to jump in. "Hey Gramps, not tryin' ta be rude or anything, but watcha cookin'?"
Solomon smiled. "I was in a baking mood today, so I made some blueberry muffins. You kids can have some if you want. They just need a moment to cool."
"Thanks Grandpa, but we had something earlier," Yugi replied, "right guys?" He turned toward his two friends and nearly face faulted when he noticed that he and his grandpa were the only ones left in the room. The swinging kitchen door told him all he needed to know. He smiled embarrassedly. "Should have known…"
Solomon chuckled appreciatively before heading into the kitchen after Joey and Tristan. He glanced at his grandson over his shoulder. "Yugi, would you mind watching the shop for a moment?"
Yugi nodded. "Sure, Grandpa." He turned toward the display case and began stacking the new shipment of cards that had come that morning. The process didn't require much thinking and he found his mind wandering toward Tea's odd behavior. She's been really distracted lately. I know something's wrong, but I can't figure out what. It kinda hurts knowing she's not telling me…
/You must trust her, Yugi. She'll tell you what's wrong when she's ready/
Yugi smiled when he felt Yami's presence lingering in his mind. I hope so. She's one of my best friends. If there's something troubling her, I want to know what it is.
/Yes, I understand/
Yugi frowned thoughtfully. She told me that Kaiba started volunteering at the Domino Humane Society last week. You think that's what's been on her mind?
/Perhaps, though I know she's one of the few that's not afraid to stand up to him. I don't think she'd let his attitude get to her too much /
So, you think it's something else, then?
/I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough/
Yugi was so intent on his thoughts, that he barely heard the tinkling of the little bell, which signaled they had a customer. He looked up and caught a shock of white hair. "Oh, hey, Bakura!"
"Good afternoon, Yugi." Bakura responded politely. He raked a hand through his long, white hair and sent a spray of water droplets in every direction. "Quite a storm we're having."
"Yeah," Yugi agreed, "I love rainy days. They're the perfect times for board games." He stacked a few more packs of cards. "So, what've you been up to?'
"Oh, you know, the usual," Ryou replied. He fingered one of the pendants on his Millennium Ring.
"Oh. Well, I've got to finish stacking these cards, but Joey and Tristan are in the back if you want to find them. I should warn you though-they're eating."
Ryou chuckled. "Actually, I came to speak to Tea. We're supposed to work on a project for school tomorrow, but something's come up, and I need to reschedule. Is she here?"
Yugi frowned. He came all this way just to talk to Tea about a project? He could have called. "Sorry, Bakura, she's with Mai right now, but I'll tell her next time I see her."
Ryou waved him off. "Ah, it's ok. Don't worry about it." He gave Yugi a small smile and turned to exit the shop.
"Wait, Bakura, I could give you her cell number if you want. She usually has her phone on," Yugi offered. He ripped off the corner of a flyer hanging on the wall and scribbled some numbers on it.
"Thanks," Ryou said. "Well, I'd better go. See you around, Yugi."
"You're sure you don't want to stay and hang out with us for a little while?" Yugi asked.
"No, but thanks for the offer. I promised my dad I'd be home before 5:00, and it's already," he glanced at his watch, "5:25. I'd better get home."
"Oh, ok. Well, see you around, then," Yugi responded. He watched Ryou walk out into the rain and then shook his head.
"Hey? Wasn' that Bakura?" Joey asked, coming over to stand next to Yugi. He had a muffin in each hand.
Yugi nodded. "He wanted to talk to Tea."
"'Bout what?"
"A project."
"Oh. He couldn't have just called?"
"That's what I was wondering."
Joey grinned. "Meh. Guess that's Bakura for ya." He decided to change topics. "Hey, ya want me ta help ya stack them cards? Then we can play a game of duel monsters."
Yugi smiled at his best friend. "Sure, Joey, sounds good."
"Alright!" Joey shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "I'm gonna win this time!"
Tea had been wandering the mansion for a good twenty minutes before she stopped and leaned against up against a wall in frustration. Ok, so I'm here, lost in the Kaiba mansion with some creepy butler guy who thinks I'm someone named Anzu Mazaki. Now what do I do? She tried to imagine what Joey or Yugi would do in this situation but couldn't come up with anything useful. Joey would probably be figuring out ways to blackmail Kaiba with all the pictures of the two brothers hanging on the walls, and Yugi, well, Yugi was too nice to be caught in a situation like this anyway, but if he was, he'd probably be trying to find the exit, same as she.
She sighed in exasperation and turned a corner only to find, to her complete and utter frustration, that she was right back were she'd started. She could see the control room from where she stood.
"May I ask what you're still doing here?" Tea gasped, jumped, and spun (in that order) to face the man she'd appointed "the creepy butler guy". He was standing next to the wall with his arms folded across his chest. The grin that he'd graced her with before was no longer present, and Tea took a step back when he took a step forward. "Well?" he growled, "I thought I'd made it perfectly clear that visitors aren't allowed to be wandering the mansion without consent from Mr. Kaiba."
Tea looked up at him with big baby blue eyes. "Yes, you did, but now I remember the real reason I came here."
"You told me before that you were here to talk to Mr. Mokuba."
Tea fidgeted and began slowly edging away. "Yeah, but I also needed to give Kaiba some files for work. I'm his, uh, personal secretary. I just started."
The man suddenly narrowed his eyes and loomed ominously over her. "You're a friend of Mr. Mokuba and Mr. Kaiba's secretary?"
Tea shuddered under his gaze, not liking the situation one bit. "Yes. It's, uh, how I became acquainted with Mr. Kaiba."
"Is that so? Well, in that case I'll show you to his office. Wouldn't want his new secretary getting lost." He walked over to her and took her arm.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Tea snarled, struggling to get out of his grasp. She planted her feet firmly on the hard floor, but the man began dragging her along behind him. "Let go of me, you creep!" she yelled and hit him in the back with her fist.
"Stop fighting and it'll make my job a lot easier," the man growled.
"Let me go, or I'll scream!" Tea shot back.
The man scoffed. "That won't do any good. Nobody will hear you." Tea froze for an instant and gazed up at him in horror. He could feel her pulse quicken under his hand.
The sound of glass shattering jolted them both back to reality. "SON OF A BITCH!"
Tea's head whipped around at the sound of a new voice coming from one of the rooms at the end of the hall. The door was slightly ajar, allowing a stream of light to spill out into the dark hallway.
A man stormed out of the room. His eyes darted down the length of the hallway and fell on the butler. "Kazuma, you idiot! What are you doing out here! You're supposed to be on the look out for that bastard, Kaiba!" It appeared he hadn't noticed Tea yet.
Kazuma gripped Tea's arm even harder. She yelled out in pain and kicked his shin with her heel. He cursed and knocked her away with his free hand, causing her to stumble forward and hit the wall with a groan.
"What the hell is going on here?" the second man demanded, marching angrily toward them. He had now apparently noticed Tea.
"I found this girl wandering around. Her name's Anzu Mazaki. She said she's Kaiba's personal secretary, but I don't buy it," Kazuma replied angrily. "What do ya want me to do with her?"
The other man shot a glance at Tea and his eyes widened in recognition. "Wait a minute; you're Tea Gardner aren't you?" A smile played softly on his lips. "I know all about you. You're pretty close to Kaiba, correct?"
Tea glanced at the man but didn't recognize him at all. How does he know who I am? "I don't think that's really any of your business," she replied hotly.
Kazuma was all up in arms. "What! She told me her name was Anzu Mazaki! We can't trust this one, boss!"
The other man chuckled, ignoring Kazuma. "Actually, it is my business. Anything concerning Seto Kaiba is my business."
Kazuma's eyes shot to the other man. "She could ruin everything. We should get rid of her."
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Kazuma," the boss responded tightly. "We'll continue on as planned with a few minor adjustments."
Tea glowered at him. She turned to sprint down the hallway, but Kazuma caught wind of what she was planning and tackled her before she got very far. He pulled her back on her feet and twisted her arms behind her back.
"Argh! Let me go!" Tea growled. "I have friends in high places! You'll never get away with this!"
"Such a lovely, young girl, so full of spirit. You don't need to put up that tough act around me. The fear in your eyes is plainly visible," the boss mocked. He shook his head in amusement and signaled Kazuma to follow him.
Tea was led toward the room at the end of the hallway where the boss had first emerged. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Kaiba's office, but everything was out of place. Papers and books had been tossed aside, cupboard doors were wide open, and contents spilled out of drawers. Kaiba's computer was turned on, and a few files seemed to be missing from an organized divider next to it. Kazuma stood with Tea in the doorway while the boss resumed his search for whatever he'd been trying to find, though he seemed to have no luck.
He turned to face Kazuma and Tea. "Unfortunately, I can't get through Kaiba's security, but now that we have a back up plan it doesn't matter." His eyes landed on Tea.
She took a small step back. "W-who are you?"
The boss grinned. "I am Rakion Yuko one of the many that scum Kaiba turned away cold. I'm here to make his life a living hell, and you my dear, will help me do that."
"No way! I'd never help someone who was trying to hurt Kaiba, even though he is a scumbag. You can count me out of it!"
"Actually, you don't have a choice. You see, we have spies searching out the dickhead's little brother, right now, so if you don't do exactly what we say..." he shook his head sadly, "I don't think I'll be able to ensure little Mokuba's safety."
Tea stared at him in horror. "You wouldn't!"
Yuko grinned and was about to say more, but the sound of a door slamming cut him off. A figure walked into the house, and the sound of shoes echoed through the silent mansion.
Yuko tensed up. "Kaiba? He's not supposed to be home for at least another hour!"
Tea twisted out of Kazuma's hold, not about to let this opportunity slip from her fingers. "KAIBA! KAIBA HELP! THEY'RE TRYING TO-mfph mm mmmmm!"
"Do that again, and you'll regret it," Yuko hissed as he wrapped a hand over Tea's mouth. He brought out a knife and held it threateningly to her neck. She immediately quieted and all three strained their ears for any sounds signaling he'd heard her shouting. There was only silence.
Becoming desperate, Tea bit Yuko's hand and screeched even louder, "PLEASE HELP, KAIBA! THEY'RE GOING TO HURT ME! THEY'LL KILL MO-"
Yuko angrily slammed his elbow into the side of Tea's temple and sent her careening sideways. She landed with a heap on the floor. As she pulled herself to a sitting position, her vision became blurry and the room spun in circles, making it hard for her to focus. An image of Yuko looming over her with his knife was the last thing she saw before darkness overcame her.
Peneia Teke: Yeah, remember Rakion Yuko from chapter two? Well, we all knew he'd turn out to be a psycho, right? Hehe.
So, is Kaiba going to save Tea in time, or is more havoc going to ensue? Guess you'll just have to wait 'til next time.
I hope you liked that muffin bit, ShadowedSpirit, because I put it in there just for you!
Alright, one last thing. I'm about halfway done with chapter eight, so if you guys want me to update fast, I want lots of reviews! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update, deal? Soooooooo, go to it, and I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, or whatever other holiday you celebrate!