Chapter 43 – 2:30 A.M.

2:30 A.M. That's what the clock read as Tea trudged up the staircase that now seemed way too long for comfort on her way towards her respective room in the Kaiba mansion, the room she had been given the dress with Lucy in. The three had watched a movie before Seto left to do some work, and Mokuba insisted the two play video games for the rest of the night. Tea had to admit that she was better at video games than she ever imagined; she beat the brother of second-best in Duel Monsters more than five times at a game she had never even played before.

But all good things have to come to an end, and as Mokuba fell asleep during their millionth run of Mortal Kombat, so too the night came to a close. She had turned the game system off, placed a blanket over the younger Kaiba, and was now walking down the hallway to her room, where she knew a bed more comfortable than anything she could afford awaited her. "Leave it to Mokuba to have the best ideas," she thought. "I never even thought of doing anything this weekend, and now I'm spending the night over at the Kaiba mansion. How does that kid always know what to do?"

Chuckling, she thought, "Probably because he knows Seto would never go out on a limb to make plans with others. He has to make up ground where his brother blatantly fails." Tea stopped and frowned before turning around. "Speaking of which, maybe I should go check on him…" Shaking her head, she spun back around and headed towards her room. "No, I'm not his babysitter. I really need to stop thinking like that. Yes, the doctor told me to take care of him, but that doesn't mean I need to check up on him every five minutes like a child. He wouldn't want that, and I wouldn't either. I'll just get ready and go to bed."

As she opened the door leading into her bedroom, however, she saw a large, light blue shirt and a pair of black capri sweatpants laid out on her bed, a little sticky note placed on the shirt. She smiled, remembering that she had packed nothing to wear, and walked over before pulling the sticky note off the shirt. "'Hopefully this will be suitable for tonight. There are necessities in the bathroom for your usage. If you need me, you know where my room is.'" Crumpling the paper up, she tossed it into a nearby trash can and began to change. She had to admit that living in this life of luxury would be pretty amazing; the sweatpants and shirt were just too comfortable. Looking down, she saw the KaibaCorp logo on the breast of the shirt and smirked. "He wears his own logo," she thought aloud.

Walking into the bathroom, she saw a new toothbrush and toothpaste laid out along with shampoo and conditioner in the shower stall. She quickly brushed her teeth, washed her mouth out, and brushed her hair one last time before turning the light off and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "But still…he did let me stay overnight. Maybe I should go and just thank him for letting me stay. If he's awake, that is…" Sighing in frustration, she stood back up and thought, "If I don't visit him, I'll just feel bad. Might as well see if he's up."

Opening her bedroom door back up, she retraced her steps down the hallway into the opposite wing of the mansion. Turning down several more hallways, she eventually came to the doorway that she knew led into Seto's bedroom. Only one problem: it was shut. "Do I just barge on in like I own the place or knock and risk waking him up?" she thought bitterly. Sighing at her inability to think things through, she thought the hell with it and opened the door up only to find…no Seto.

Tea blinked in surprise and couldn't contain her curiosity as she walked into the bedroom and looked around. "To think that the last time I was in here we were arguing over a different head injury," she thought as she glanced around the room. There was no sign of Seto save for the bed covers that were placed carelessly, hinting that somebody had been sleeping but left. "Maybe he woke up to do some work…?" Realizing defeat at her attempt, she turned and went to leave when she heard something in the adjacent bathroom.

"Running water? Is he taking a shower or something?" Blushing at the idea of walking into the CEO showering, she inched her way forward only to find the doorway open. Taking a few more steps, she saw Seto dressed in black, silk pajamas staring into the bathroom sink that was quickly filling with water and watched as he splashed some of it onto his face. He soon turned the water off and grabbed a nearby towel to wipe his face off before gripping the edges of the sink.

"Are you okay?" she asked without thinking, immediately covering her mouth the second the words escaped her lips. The CEO spun around as if hearing a bullet whiz by and sighed at the sight of her.

"Yeah… I'm fine," he answered. Smirking, he asked, "Did Mokuba keep you up this late?" Tea slowly nodded her head, noting Seto's appearance. There were traces of dark circles around his eyes, and his grip on the sink didn't loosen even the slightest bit. Sadly enough, his injury hadn't healed up any better either. "Where is he?" he asked, shaking her out of her little trance.

"He's downstairs sleeping on the couch," she explained, smirking when Seto smiled and rolled his eyes.

"He fell asleep during the game, huh?"

"Yep."

"Typical. Well, I hope you two at least had fun."

"What did you do once the movie was over?"

"I worked for a bit on some things that needed to get done for the company. I went to bed only an hour ago…and look where I ended up." Seto chuckled sadly and shook his head. "Well, whatever. I'm up now; no use complaining."

"Why are you up if you just went to bed?" she asked, moving out of his way as he entered his bedroom. She watched him lie down on the bed and close his eyes before letting out a sigh. She immediately knew what had awoken the CEO and figured he could be the one to say it aloud.

"It's just nightmares, like always," he answered.

"Like always…" Tea walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, smiling over at him. "I'm still here."

He smiled and nodded his head. "I knew you were. It actually wasn't as bad as usual…maybe I'm starting to get over them finally."

"I hope so. That would mean that you are truly doing well without the medication."

Seto smirked and opened his eyes to look at her. "I will do whatever it takes to stay off that medicine. It is really strange, though. Waking up and eating meals without worrying about taking a pill is weird for me…and it shouldn't be." He sighed and rolled over so that he was staring up at the ceiling before blinking and glancing back over at her. "Was there something wrong?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Why did you come into my room? Was something wrong?"

"Oh, n-no," she quickly replied, waving her hand to shake off the question. "I just wanted to wish you goodnight if you were still up and thank you for letting me stay the night."

Tea watched as his smirk transformed into a small, yet genuine, smile, and he reached forward to grasp her hand. "I enjoy you coming over and visiting," he stated, looking up at her. "After all, it's why I consider you my girlfriend. I told myself even before Sophie that I would only date somebody I truly cared about and not be like most men are, where they just look for someone who they consider to be sexy. I wanted to be above that." His smile widened, and he sat up and said, "It should be me thanking you for coming over, not the other way around."

She couldn't help herself; she felt a chuckle emit through her lips and grinned widely at the CEO. "You know, you continually amaze me," she replied when she saw him frown. "You are such a different person to those you care about that if I overheard you say that at work and didn't know you like I do, I wouldn't believe it was you at all."

"Is that…a bad thing?"

"No, no!" she exclaimed, crawling over next to him and leaning against him. "It just lets me know that you honestly care about me and that this relationship means as much to you as it does to me." Feeling him wrap an arm around her shoulders, she let her eyes close and whispered, "I'm so glad to be in this relationship with you, Seto."

"I… Me too, Tea," he whispered back. She looked up at him only to frown at the sight of his wound.

"Has that healed anymore?" she questioned, pressing a finger slightly against it.

"Not really," he answered. "Although when you poke it, it somehow hurts."

Blushing, she withdrew her hand and chuckled. "Sorry, I was just making sure it wasn't a scar."

"No…not yet anyway."

"Do you think it will be?" Her eyes widened slightly; if she was the reason he got a scar…

"I'm not sure. I hope not, though. It will only attract those damn cameras and interviewers, and I don't have time to deal with either of them."

"I hope not either. I would feel so guilty if it did…" Looking back, she watched as Seto lied down on his back, and she quickly crawled up next to him and moved a few strands of hair in order to get a better look at the cut. "It still looks bad."

"I'll be fine, Tea," he said, opening his eyes and looking up at her. She stared in awe at those eyes, for they were completely different from their cold, heartless counterparts. These were like the ones she saw when she first arrived at the orphanage all those weeks ago, radiating happiness even with the sleep dulling their luster a bit.

"I know, but—"

"What did I say about that?" he asked. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her over so that her face was merely inches away from his, making her blush at their sudden closeness. Yet she could see that all humor was out of his blue eyes, the eyes that she was currently losing herself in at this proximity. "It is not your fault. Stop blaming yourself like that! It's dangerous to think like that… Please, Tea."

The fact that he said 'please' made Tea blink in surprise. "The same road that you traveled…?" She meant to think it as the memory of the previous day washed over her, yet it just seemed to roll off her tongue.

"Exactly. Nobody should think like that, especially someone like you who is too nice and has nothing to blame herself for."

Chuckling, she smirked and said, "It's just something I'm good at."

His eyes quickly changed back to the way they were moments ago; happiness with traces of love emitting from them. Those blue eyes really were beautiful…just like the soul of the owner was… Sure he hid it from the rest of society, but didn't that make it even more beautiful when it was revealed? "I want you to keep good at it, too," he whispered. "I don't ever want you to become miserable like I was. You don't deserve that, Tea, and thinking like that will eventually turn you into that."

Tea smiled and leaned down, resting her head against his chest and listening to soft beating of his heart. "Who would have thought you would fall in love with someone who was known for her kindness?" she asked jokingly, grasping his hand once more.

"I guess opposites do attract…"

"And I'm happy they do." She smiled and looked up to see him smiling down at her before rolling his eyes.

"Come on. Let's go to sleep; I'm exhausted as it is." She nodded her head in agreement and rolled off of him only to snuggle up against him as he pulled the heavy blanket over them. She let him wrap an arm around her and closed her eyes, letting his heartbeat lull her off into a peaceful sleep.