J: Ahha, whoever said you can't have a filler for a fanfiction never met me! ..This is going no where. But I do have some information! The next chapter after this might take a lil bit before being posted due to my lack of interest over the past few weeks (coughmonthcough) so do not be alarmed at lack of updatingness...ENJOY THIS SHORT ONE!
Disclaimer: Me no ownee characters that I would molest/fondle if they were real.
Chapter Four- The Real Reason
"Bye guys! Thanks for the fun last night!" Tea called this out to Serenity and Mai who drove off to Joey's. (Tea later learned they'd walked in on Joey sleeping in nothing but his boxers.) Going back inside Tea went into the living room to evaluate the mess damage. On a scale from one to ten she was pleased that the three of them only reached level six in comparison to all the mess that accumulated in the room shared between her, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, and Duke on Kaiba's airship. She'd felt bad for the cleaning crew when they found the mess they had to clean. As she began to clean her mind wandered back to the two males that insisted on making her life more complicated than it should be. First there was Seto Kaiba who was battling her for idea custody and currently holding her wardrobe hostage. He was handsome , in fact he was on the top of her list on the in between Good and Bad guys, the only reason she currently wanted to shave his pretty little head so the sun could reflect off his scalp was because his ego couldn't be any bigger. If he was even a little less egotistical she would try minor flirtations to see if he responded.
Then there was Mr. I'm-An-Evil-Egyptian-Spirit Bakura. Again another hottie that was currently number one on the Bad Boy list due to Marik being in the Shadow Realm for all of eternity. In the course of two days the guy had flashed his sexy chest and acted super polite and charming. He wooed her to the point where she didn't question anything he did or said, including kissing her. Then things went to hell, and now he was back to put her back into hell. "Not this time Bakura! I'm not going to fall for any of your bullshit!" Pumped up with enraged energy Tea began cleaning like a mad woman.
She'd started at ten and ended at eleven, anyone else would be very proud of themselves, Tea only sighed," Damn, I was aiming for half an hour. Alright, so I have…two hours left before heading over to Mrs. Mizaki's, plenty of time to go through that new dance routine." Her frustrated energy expelled and replaced with excessive energy that could be used for anything Tea happily skipped off to her room to change into workout clothes.
The moment the door closed behind her a form dashed past to the room that Tea planned to use. In the dance-game room the unidentifiable person went to each corner of the room and placed his hand on each wall creating the corner. Nothing appeared and nothing altered on the wall but the figure touched the walls of each corner. When they finished a crooked smile spread across their face. The figure left the room as quickly as they'd entered, and the only way anyone could know he'd been there was the quiet echoing of ominous laughter.
Tea noticed nothing out of place when she came out of her bedroom in a light blue tank top and white capris that use to be sweat pants. Hair pulled up in her small pony tail Tea spun and skipped to her dance room with a new mixed CD in hand. She'd paid Joey 15 bucks to make the CD exactly two hours long and it started out with good warm up songs and ended with something you could dance almost anything to.
In the dance room Tea threw the CD into her playstation, (what better stereo system could you have than a wide screen surround sound player?) she was pleased with Joey's taste when a wordless techno version of 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas came on. That song started one of her best exercise/practice sessions she'd had since, 'Since the time I danced with Ryou during dance class…' Tea quickly shook her head of the intimate memory, thinking about those times would only lead her back into his control.
Turning off the dwindling instruments from Arashi's 'Love So Sweet' Tea grabbed a towel and dried off the sweat that hadn't dripped off her body. Sucking back most of her water bottle she glanced at the clock to check the remaining time she had, only to see five minutes left before she had to make a mad dash for Mrs. Mizaki's. "Dammit Joey! I said two hours, not two and a half!"
In the next two minutes that passed Tea stubbed her toes four times, fell face first on the floor twice and door knobbed herself once. As she flew out the door she remained oblivious to the dark figure that slipped in right before the door closed.
-Two Hours Later-
"Mrs. Mizaki you overpaid me again! I told you I only charge five an hour, and you paid me ten an hour! I can't accept the extra ten." Tea held her hands forward with the extra ten dollars that her surrogate grandmother was trying to give her.
Mrs. Mizaki smiled kindly and closed Tea's hands around the money," Keep the money in case of emergencies sweetie. I somehow doubt your friend will be giving you a ride home in that fancy car of his. Have a nice day, and be a good girl." Being the sneaky and quick little lady she was Mrs. Mizaki scuttled back into her house laughing quietly to herself the whole way.
Tea shrugged, there was no way of convincing Mrs. Mizaki to change her mind about anything. Turning around she saw what Mrs. Mizaki had been talking about with the fancy car. Seto Kaiba, being just as sneaky as Mrs. Mizaki had once again sent his cronies to spy on her. Only this time they were also instructed to escort her back to the Kaiba estate. Walking up to the unfazed man with short black hair and closed eyes she asked," Does he really have so much spare time that he couldn't let me go to his house by myself?"
"Ms. Gardener, I don't mean to sound rude, but do you even know where Mr. Kaiba lives?" The escort couldn't help but smile when Tea blushed and mumbled back something about his suit being too plain a uniform. Daisuke shut the door on the pouting young woman and could only wish the best for what was about to happen.
During the quiet drive to Kaiba's mansion Tea thought back to the man that had smiled as he closed the door. 'Truth be told that suit put a bit of emphasis on his figure. Maybe I can get a name and number with Sassy Seto firing him for fraternizing with the enemy. Bet it would knock his ego down a couple of notches if I went for one of his staff instead of fawning over him.' A mental image of Seto Kaiba dramatically yelling and throwing a tantrum made Tea burst into a fit of laughter.
She was just recovering when the car stopped and her escort opened the door to reveal exactly what she had expected, a two story posh mansion complete with a full circle gravel drive in with a Blue Eyes White Dragon spewing pristine water in the center of the drive way.
Tea knocked politely and waited for the door to be answered by a butler or maid. Instead she was greeted by a grinning Mokuba," It's about time you got here Tea! I've been waiting for the past hour for you." Tea couldn't even get into the house before Mokuba grabbed her in a fierce hug.
Hugging him back she laughed," So sorry for keeping you waiting, I was just making fun of your brother before I have to play the polite guest in order to get my clothes back. Do you know why he took them Mokuba?"
"Actually big brother wouldn't tell me anything. Only that you would be showing up today to make arrangements for something. At first I thought it was about Dance Duelling but he hasn't mentioned your contract since he came home from that meeting." Mokuba talked and pulled Tea towards Seto's office at the same time, which Tea thought was quite impressive considering that the kid was walking backwards.
Stopping in front of two large doors Mokuba gave a solute for good luck and ran off around the corner. Tea set her expression to unhindered and knocked on the door. There came an immediate, if not grumpy response from the other side telling her to enter. Opening the doors Tea felt like she'd walked into a meeting room instead of an office. The room was three if not four times bigger than a standard office room and occupying the majority was a long table fitted with multiple seats.
Looking out his floor to ceiling window Seto Kaiba stood with a cell phone glued to his ear. Without even looking at her Seto pointed to one of the plush seats in front of his large mahogany desk. Rolling her eyes Tea complied and sat down, if the guy wasn't on the phone she would have told him to explain everything while she was still standing.
Kaiba finished his phone conversation with a promise to look over the contract before making the final call. Turning to his current guest Seto smiled, (giving Tea an unnecessary heart attack) and walked over to his own seat behind the desk," Ms. Gardener, it's good to see you got my invitation."
"If you're worried about me altering the contract because of your normal egotistical attitude you shouldn't, it's too much work to change anything on it now. So please, act like the jerk we all know and love." Tea's tone wasn't as snarky as she would have liked to use, but it wasn't very kind either.
Kaiba's smile vanished and he seemed to completely relax in his large office chair. Meeting Tea's blue gaze head on he continued on the way he normally spoke," Glad to see you're taking things seriously. I wasn't being nice because of the contract. It takes me a moment to get out of my formal state of mind used only for important people."
Tea responded with a tiny snide smirk that lasted two seconds," So tell me what's so important that you need to hold my wardrobe hostage and send your goonies to spy on me all day? It better be a good explanation or I'm putting a restraining order on my next to do list."
"Fine, getting right to the point, starting today you are going to be my dance instructor. Until I am completely satisfied with my skills you will continue to be my instructor, and if he so wishes you will also be teaching Mokuba to dance. Questions?" Kaiba could tell from the very beginning of his sentence that Tea Gardener was going to be doing more than just asking questions and immediately braced his ear drums.
"Here's a question: WHAT IN YOUR BLOODY NON EXISTANT BRAIN THINKS I WOULD AGREE TO BEING YOUR DAMNED DANCE TEACHER?" Tea was up out of her seat and almost mad enough to start foaming at the mouth.
Seto sighed and rubbed his temples, this was why he'd taken the precaution to kidnap her clothes and another arrangement. Going into his desk he pulled out an envelope and placed it in Tea's vision range. Remaining calm he answered," If you agree to be our dance instructor than I pay you twice as much as any regular dance instructor, as well I will give you this letter of recommendation for the dean of Julliard. I've been to multiple performances and have come to be on very good terms with him. Are you going to tell at me now?" The offer sweetened to tooth aching levels Tea could not yell.
She slowly sat down in her seat and glanced down at the letter, sighing with crossed arms she calmly inquired," How do you expect me to teach you when I have three part time jobs as well as my own dance lessons Monday, Wednesday, and Friday?"
"After you're finished teaching us the amount you will have accumulated will far surpass what you would make from your part time jobs after a year." She was caving, he could see the victory right there, just another shove and she would surrender.
Tea caught the tiniest flashes of smug success in Kaiba's eyes,' Oh no he doesn't. Tempted or not I cannot feed his ego.' Her mind set Tea rose from her seat and coldly told him," I will think about it." She could feel the outrage emanate from Kaiba the second she turned her back to him.
Opening the doors she was met with the final push Kaiba had not planned on using. Mokuba stood wide eyed and big smiles in the doorway," Are you really going to be teaching big brother and I, Tea? Please say yes, it would be the coolest thing ever!"
'What makes this worse is the growing sense of victory oozing off of Kaiba right now.' Hanging her head in defeat she turned to the smirking Kaiba and growled," Fine, I'll be your dance instructor. Give me any problems about the lessons and I teach Mokuba only, got it? Now would you send my clothes back to my house?" Tea barely managed not to smile when Mokuba cheered in jubilation and ran off to his room to look for appropriate dance clothes.
Kaiba's smirk barely budged when he informed her (rather evilly)," You seem to have missed some information. By agreeing to be our dance instructor you also agree to stay here until our lessons are done. You see my work schedule is very sporadic when it comes to available time, so I need you to be available for anytime." If it weren't for the loss of her dance school opportunity and the scarring of Mokuba's young mind Tea would have killed Seto Kaiba on the spot.