A/N: sorry it took me so long to update. Here's chapter five!
1/3 Jewels Of The Sun
What Goes Bump In The Night…
Tea watched her princess and prince dance to the soft music Tatiana was playing. She was having the dancers rehearse the last scene of the play. The costumes were all designed and Tea was going to a store to buy the fabric she needed for them. She motioned for the music to stop and smiled at the now still dancers.
"Very nice. Gina you need to keep your chin up. Don't look at your feet." Tea smiled at them. From the looks in their eyes she knew they'd be better in their next rehearsal. Her smiled widened when the eight-year-old pouted at her words.
"But Madame Gardner how else would I know where to step?" she was a pretty little girl with bright teal eyes and long raven black hair. By far she was Tea's best dancer, the older woman had hopes that Gina would be able to go to America to learn dancing like she wanted to. There was no doubt in Tea's mind that Gina would succeed as a wonderful dancer.
"We still have plenty of weeks to practice. You'll know where to step on opening night. I have complete faith in you if you continue practicing like you have these first few days. Go and get washed and changed, your mother will be here soon." Tea ruffled the dark locks. At the simple words of praise Gina blushed before she hurried off to do exactly what Madame had said.
Tea ran a hand through her chocolate brown bob and blew at the bangs in her eyes. She was tired and was afraid to go to sleep. It humiliated her that she was afraid to go to sleep because of two utterly weird dreams. She was working to hard that's all; with the up-coming play and her mixed feelings for Yami she was an emotional wreck.
She had know the Mouto brothers for her whole life and she had loved the older one since her tender days of being a starry-eyed teen. She was older and wiser now. And she had never stopped loving him.
At the piano Tatiana observed her sister. It looked like Tea hadn't had a proper night's sleep for a few days. Tatiana was worried. She rarely worried about Tea because she had always seemed so strong even when their mother was dying and they all knew it Tea had seemed to be made out of stone. Unless you looked closely at her that you saw how tired and stressed and scared she looked.
Tatiana still remembered the nights she heard her older sibling weeping under the covers after everyone else had gone to bed. Tatiana also remembered how some of the people who didn't know Tea very well said she wasn't very torn up about her mother. But those people where stupid and blind. Just because her sister didn't openly brawl out her heart didn't mean she wasn't grieving. Tatiana knew that Tea missed their mother the most.
Tatiana played a quick and happy tune on the scarred and batted piano Tea had gotten half-price on e-bay for her. The younger sister loved the old instrument and thought every scar and faded patch of wood gave it character. From the happy jig she played a softer more romantic tune. It was the piece that Tea wanted to be played as the ending song in the play. It was also one of her favourites.
"Nice tune Ana. Did you make it up?" the soft unexpected voice made Ana jerk her head up to two deep pools of magenta. Yami smiled as he leaned easily on the piano. He smile was friendly, even brotherly but in her surprise and giddiness in seeing him Tatiana easily mistook it for flirtatious and charming.
"Ah no it was off the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. The play. Um…it's Tea's favourite you know." Tatiana stuttered slightly.
"Yes I remember. It was always her most favourite fairy tale. When we were little she always made us watch it when it was raining or too cold to go outside and play." Yami nodded then waved at Tea when she noticed him. Tatiana's heart sank slightly when her older sister made her way over to the piano.
"Hey Yami. Are you going to walk us home again?" Tea asked slyly. She hadn't done any dancing today so she gave a quick friendly hug.
Tatiana sighed sadly. "I'm going straight over Naoko's today. We are having that sleep-over remember." She added when she saw Tea's confused look. "It's opposite way to our house." She said turning to look at Yami again.
Tea sighed. She had completely forgot about Tatiana and Naoko's sleepover. Yami frowned lost in thought for a moment before speaking to the two young women in front of him. " How about Tea and I drop you off at Naoko's and then I'll walk Tea home from there?" he suggested.
Tatiana didn't like the idea of Yami walking Tea home when there were just two of them but she liked the idea of walking to Naoko's alone while wondering what those two were up to a lot less. She nodded eagerly. " I like that idea."
"Me too." Tea agreed. She didn't like the idea of Tatiana walking to her friends house alone when it was just getting dark. She would feel much safer for both of them if Yami were with them.
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The walk to Naoko's was uneventful. Yami and Tea quickly saw that Tatiana was safely inside before backtracking and heading towards the Gardner residence. Tea told the shop owner about the play and her hopes for young Mika. Yami told her of Seto Kaiba's visit and how Rebecca, Yugi and Mokubah's school project was going. He didn't mention that they were also studying a ghost or about the dreams he had about that particular ghost.
When they reached the small two-storey house Tea quickly dug through her purse and found her keys. She smiled over at Yami who was hovering uncertainly nearby. "Wanna have a cup of coffee?" she asked. It was slightly colder than it was the night before.
"Sure." Yami was dying for a cup of coffee. He had lost his gloves again and his fingers were going numb. Tea grinned while she opened the door and they both quickly stepped into the welcoming warmth.
Sitting on the emerald green settee that was covered in ruby red cushions sipping the piping hot coffee, Yami noticed that Tea was in her element. The living room was painted an off-white colour and the floor was a simple glossy pine wooden tile but the bold coloured furniture made the room look exotic and warm and inviting. Exactly how Yami saw Tea.
"So Kaiba's going to America later than expected?" Tea asked. She set the bright blue mug on a small round coffee table painted in a bold green and blue pattern.
"Yeah. I was pretty surprised that he took it so well. I mean he didn't do much about this Walter guy other than rave a little about him to me." Yami admitted with a small smile.
Tea returned the smile and shook her head. "He's probably waiting until he goes to America. Walter's going to wish he were never born when Seto gives him the Kaiba Glare. And that'll be before Kaiba starts on him with his temper."
It was nearly ten when Yami finally got ready to leave. Tea followed him to the door and laughed as he wiggled into his leather jacket. "So I'll see you tomorrow. I heard that Mokubah's staying at Kaiba Mansion tonight. So at least you only have Becca and Yugi to worry about." She smiled.
Yami grinned and nodded then as if it was the simplest thing in the world he cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her lightly on the lips. Tea moaned and locked her arms around his neck. Yami deepened the kissed and brought his hand round so it was now cupping the back of her neck, his other arm was banded round her waist.
Yami drew back slowly. He had kissed her tons of times. True he had never on the lips before. Tea was breathing hard and felt as though her head had shot off and now was circling Jupiter along with the rest of its moons. Where the hell had he learned to kiss like that?
"Um…okay…what was that?" Tea whispered. She still had her arms looped around his neck, he was still cupping the back of her neck and his other hand was resting on the small of her back.
"Ah…I should go." Yami murmured. He was in deep thought and hadn't heard Tea's question.
"Yes you should." Tea muttered. She didn't want him to go. And she didn't want him to stay.
Yami let his hands drop from Tea and she released her arms from around his neck and headed back into the living room. Yami turned to go.
THUMP!
Yami shook away the stars that were dancing in front of his eyes and looked to see what he had walked into. He forgot to open the front door first.
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Yami woke to the phone ringing. He frowned at it for a minute before picking it up and staring at the digital clock that read 4:45 am. He had a hard time getting to sleep because he was so damn confused about Tea. He finally drifted off thinking that he needed to seriously talk to her and he defiantly wanted to kiss her again.
"Yeah?" he grumbled as a way of greeting to the person on the other end.
"You know you could say hello instead. People tend to think hello is a lot more polite." Seto Kaiba's voice floated out of the other end sounding amused.
"Its four in the bloody morning." Yami muttered.
"4:49 actually. Sorry for waking you up anyways."
" You don't sound very sorry!"
" You're right I'm not. Anyway I have early meetings today and I thought you might like to hear this. It's about that ghost lady."
" Yeah? What did you find out?" Yami asked suddenly wide-awake. He shifted into a sitting position and shoved a pillow hastily behind him to lean on.
" Okay first off. You were right about Ireland. Cecelia Barlow moved from a small fishing village called Ardmore when she was eighteen. She sailed to Japan to live with a second cousin. Anyway there's an interesting little fairytale behind it. You know lots of angst and forbidden love going on. These guys make Romeo and Juliet look like amateurs." Seto gave a small humourless laugh.
" What's the story?" yami asked interested.
"Okay our girl Cecelia fell in love with a wind god-"
" A what?" Yami asked incredulous.
" Yeah I know. Anyway she fell in love with him and her daddy, who was dying apparently, didn't approve and stuck her on the first ship outta Ardmore for Japan. Well guess what that didn't sit too well with her lover boy and he gave her a hundred flashy diamonds from the sun to win her heart and get her to come with him instead. Not a bad gift if I do say so myself. " Seto gave another laugh.
"What happened next?" Yami asked. He remembered something like that from his dream.
"Jeez. You're just like a little kid you know that?" Yami could hear the smile in Seto's voice. "Okay well it didn't work. Cecelia didn't like the glitters and flat out refused them, they then turned into white roses, who ever heard of diamonds turning into flowers! Well that's her loss. So our little heroine gets on the boat and goes to Japan to her cousin." Seto continued. He took a breath before saying the next part of the story.
"Our boy here can't seem to be able to take no for an answer and follows her to Japan. By this time she's got herself engaged to a rich friend of the cousin's and the god offers her a hundred pearls with are meant to be the tears of the moon. If a moon can cry that is." Seto added in a disbelieving tone.
"I'm pretty sure that's not all there is." Yami probed when Seto didn't continue.
"Yeah yeah so Cecelia pulls the whole I-belong-to-someone-else act and refuses him a second time then the pearls turn into moonflowers. Well the wind god goes and sulks for a good few decades and returns when our little girl is now and old woman. Offers her a hundred sapphires and tells her he loves her awww. She's old and she tells him so, also tells him that if he'd told her sooner she would have goes with him."
"Is that it?" Yami asked softly.
"Nope. Wind god gets pissed and places a pretty imaginative curse on them. The curse is pretty simple. They can't see or talk or move on into the next life in her case until it's broken. No saying how you do that. You think this has anything to do with that freaky dream."
"Yeah. Remember I dreamt of when she refused the diamonds." Yami muttered. "Maybe it's a warning or something."
" I don't believe in that hocus-pocus crap Yami and you're not dragging me into your mess this time. I agreed to get the Internet page on Cecelia Barlow and I told you about that fairytale behind it but that's as far as I go. You're on your own now."
Yami closed his eyes when he heard the dial tone. He had hoped Seto's reasoning would help shake off the uneasiness he'd been feeling since he had that dream but now knowing that story he just felt even more confused.
His eyes strayed to the clock again. 5: 24 am. Well he still had three hours before he had to get up. Might as well try and get back to sleep.
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He was standing on those same cliffs he saw last night. The moon was hanging high and full, a large silvery orb in the inky blackness of the nighttime sky.
"I thought I told you not to be a bone head."
Yami spun around at the voice and saw the strange silver-haired man again. "You again!" Yami snarled angrily. He remembered that he crawled into his bed exhausted and confused. So he must be dreaming or he was just-
"You are not crazy. But you are dreaming. It is the only way I can contact you without making you look truly crazy." The stranger smiled thinly.
" What do you mean more crazy? It was you! You sent me that dream! The one on the cliffs in Ireland." Yami cried pointing an accusing finger at the wind-god.
The stranger frowned. " When we talk in the waking world only you can see me because you are one of the chosen. It wasn't a dream I sent you. It was a memory. Mine." He shook his head, this made his hair fly wildly around his face, it caught in the moonlight and made it seem even more mystical and beautiful.
"I don't care! I don't want any more dreams or memories or whatever in my head." Yami said stubbornly. He crossed his arms over in front of his chest and glared at the god.
"I showed you because you need to learn! I will not wait another three hundred years because you ignorant stubborn humans screwed it up again!"
"Wait what do you mean by another three hundred years!" Yami gasped.
The wind god shook his head again. His eyes were tightly closed and a single shining tear escaped from underneath his lids and clung to his lashes before dropping onto his cheek. Yami watched with a strange fascination as the older man opened his eyes and blinked them clear before speaking:
"We have waited for three hundred years for three couples to meet and fall in love and confess their feelings from the bottom of their heart. We have come close in the past and have nearly succeeded."
Yami stared at him for a minute before his blood boiled up with anger " you can't just expect humans to jump up and down for you! You can't control our lives because you were an idiot!"
" I'm not asking you to jump up and down. Nor am I trying to control you life. I will not deny that I was a fool. Cecelia needed the words and I was proud enough that I believed she already knew how I felt. But I ask you this Yami Mouto, how have you always felt about young Tea Gardner?"
"She's my friend and I love her as a sister."
"A sister? Is that how you would of kissed you sister last night?"
" You watched! That's worst than a peeping tom!" Yami screamed outraged. He spun around to look at Pegasus and was surprised to see that he was alone. The wind howled and just over it Yami swore he could hear Pegasus's voice say:
"Don't deny what you have always known to be true."
Yami woke from the dream to the sound of his alarm clock ringing shrilly and a sinking feeling in his gut.
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Tea always visited her mother's grave on Saturdays. Sunday she had a day full of classes. Saturdays she finished a little before five in the afternoon and she always made sure she collected a dozen white roses because they were her mother's favourite.
Tea hummed a little as she place the fragrant blossoms in front of the simple white stone. Carved into it was the following message:
TERESA. SUSAN. GARDNERJULY 1965-FEBUARY 2007
BELOVED MOTHER AND SISTER
ALWAYS REMEBERED FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS
Even In The Darkest Corner A Light Can SpringTea gave a small smile at the bottom of the gravestone. It was a favourite saying of her mothers and Tea, Tatiana and their uncle Harvey had all agreed to use it.
"You love her." Tea spun around at the sound of the voice. A tall man with silver hair and warm brown eyes stared at her. On a closer expectation she saw that he was only about twenty-eight.
"Yes she was my mother." Tea said softly a small smile playing on her lips.
"Even in the darkest corner a light can spring. What does that mean?"
"My mother often said it. It means that no matter how bad things got there always some form of happiness and hope." Tea's smile widened slightly.
"Tell me. Were you ever in love?" the man asked.
Tea stared at him for a minute before answering. " Yes."
The strange man snapped his fingers and in his palm were a dozen sparkling diamonds. "Would you prefer these over the words?"
"What are the words?" Tea whispered staring at the diamonds. How could he have made them appear out of nowhere by snapping his fingers.
" I thought it would be so." He paused for a minute then tossed the gems onto the ground at Teresa's grave pure white roses spouted up and mingled with the flowers already there. The man swooped down and plucked a diamond that hadn't changed and handed it to a shell-shocked Tea. " Here keep this. Remember there's always hope."
With a sad smile to the grave he was gone. Tea stared at the diamond for a minute before getting off her knees and running all the way home.
A/N: okay please review!