Chapter 8

The sound of music drifted through the corridors towards him. Intrigued, Joey followed the sound to it source, eventually ended up outside one of the palace's smaller reception halls. He could feel the beat pulsate through him as he stood outside trying to figure out why the music sounded so familiar and yet so vague at the same time. Eventually he realised what it was; the music was clear but the lyrics were not; he wasn't even sure if the vocal track was present. Now more than curious, he opened the doors to find out what was going on. The ash blonde he'd first encountered two days before was stood on the table, dancing like a wild child to the lyricless music. He found himself glancing round, looking for some kind of CD player or stereo, but there was nothing. The music was as sourceless as it was lyricless.

Joey's eyes returned to her. Every movement she made was free spirited, but graceful. It made her radiate an almost tangible kind of energy, as if music and dancing were all she needed to live on. But no matter how quickly she moved or how much she swung her body round, the curtain of hair over the left hand side of her face remained perfectly in place. In the time he'd just stood there studying her, two different tracks had played. He recognised both of them, even without their lyrics, and after the second one rolled into a third her visible eye flicked towards him. A strange smile slid across her face as she reached a hand out to him and silently beckoned him to join her.

He gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched the back of his head, averting his gaze as he did. Within seconds she'd graceful lowered herself down from the table and walked towards him. She then grabbed hold of Joey's hands and led him towards the centre of the room.

'I don't dance,' even he had to admit his own voice sounded strange.

She tilted her head to one side as the music changed tracks yet again, this time into a slow romantic sounding ballad. She then manoeuvred Joey's body into a ballroom style dance position, before leading him into a slow dance.

'I don't dance,' Joey could feel his cheeks flaming red, 'and even if I did, I really don't think I should be dancing with you. I have a…'

She placed her fingers over his lips in order to quieten him. There was something about the way she did it which made Joey feel the need to start leading. He'd never danced like this before in his life, but somehow with her in his arms it felt effortless and easy. As they glided around the room, he felt himself become more and more enthralled by the mysterious ash blonde. She was beautiful and flawless and every inch of her seemed to be filled with this all consuming grace and energy.

Just as he found himself about to lean in and kiss her, the music cut and the girl vanished without a trace. Before he had time to gasp in alarm, the door to the room opened and Covo poked his head round.

'What's going on in here?' Covo cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Only I swear I just heard music playing.'

'I err…' Joey felt strangely caught out, 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Oh come on Veronie, that music could be heard throughout the entire Southern Palace, easily. In fact that's why I'm here, Ahna wants to know if you can turn it down, Crovell's taking a nap.'

'Well there's no music playing now,' he shrugged and half turned away from him.

'Yeah,' Covo sounded strange, 'I had noticed.'

'Well then I guess there's no problem, is there?'

'I guess,' he frowned. 'Are you okay? Only you seem to be acting a little… odd.'

'I'm fine.'

'You sure?'

'I said so, didn't I?'

'Yeah, I guess,' Covo didn't sound convinced, 'but you know there's really no need to be quite so touchy about it,' he turned. 'Later Veronie.'

Covo left, leaving Joey to stare after him. As he did his whole body erupted with guilt. He knew he hadn't cheated on Mai, but he'd come really close. And the way he'd felt whilst he was dancing with the girl... Swallowing hard, he tried to shake the thoughts from his head.

'Oh god, I'm sorry Mai,' his voice was a trembling whisper, 'I'm so sorry.'

'Of... of course I remember,' he gave a nervous laugh, 'who forgets something which happened two days ago?'

'The same person who was acting as though she hadn't even arrived in town yet,' Téa cocked an eyebrow at him.

'I guess it just slipped my mind,' he began tugging at the bottom of his sleeves again. 'I've not been getting a whole lot of sleep recently and that can affect a person's memory.'

'Yeah...' she found herself staring at him, 'you're right, it can, but... are you sure that's all it is?'

Almost as soon as she asked the question, he let go of the base of his sleeves as though he knew it was some kind of tell or something. He then averted his gaze as his facial expression became the familiar dark and moody one she was now so used to seeing him wear.

'Is there something going on you want to talk about Tristan?' Téa edged towards him. 'I mean... if you want to talk I'll listen.'

'There's nothing I want to talk about.'

'Are you sure? You look like something's bothering you. Does it have something to do with Kaiba?'

'Why would you even ask that?' Tristan glared at her.

'Why wouldn't I, considering the fact he keeps stopping you from seeing your friends.'

'He's not stopping me from seeing you guys.'

'Then why is he always the one cancelling our plans?' Téa held her ground. 'He's clearly trying to control you and that's not healthy, not in any kind of relationship.'

'He's not trying to control me,' Tristan hands balled into fists, 'he's just trying to...' he cut himself off.

'Trying to what?'

'It doesn't matter,' he turned his head away.

'It does matter Tristan, I'm worried about you. We all are. This whole you and Kaiba thing is just so...'

'Shut up,' Tristan's voice was deadpan as he pulled himself to his feet. 'I didn't come here to listen to you bitch about Seto. If you say one more bad word about him...'

'Alright, alright,' she held her hands up defensively, 'I get it, you care about him. I'm just worried that doesn't go both ways. Or at least not in the way you want it too.'

'I thought I told you to shut up about it Téa.'

'Alright, I won't say anything else,' she sighed. 'So you really don't have any plans for tomorrow then?'

'Not that I know of, why are you guys doing something?'

'No, but I would have thought you would be,' Téa smirked, 'it is a big day and everything.'

'A big day?' Tristan frowned at her.

'Don't tell me you're so tired you've forgotten what tomorrow is,' Téa laughed.

'Of... of course I haven't forgotten what tomorrow is,' Tristan began playing with the bottom of his sleeves again.

'So then why don't you have any plans?'

'Do I really need them?'

'Well that depends on whether or not you think a milestone is worth celebrating,' Téa found herself feeling a more than a little confused by his reaction. 'I think it is.'

'Well then you celebrate,' he turned towards the window.

'Tristan are you okay?' She took a step towards him. 'You're acting a little weird. You do know what I'm talking about, don't you?'

'Does it really matter?' There was more than a note of agitation in his voice.

'Yeah, it kind of does; Tristan...'

'Why do you have to be so persistent about everything Téa,' he cut her off, 'you know this is exactly the reason why I get so pissed off with you all the time. I don't know how it could have slipped my mind.'

'Tristan...?'

'I think I've had about all I can take from you today, I'm going home.'

'Fine,' Téa rolled her eyes, 'clearly things aren't improving between us as much as I hoped.'

Tristan made no attempt at a reply; he made no attempt at moving either.

'I thought you were going home.' Téa folded her arms.

'I am,' he remained where he was.

'You don't seem to be moving very fast and here I thought you couldn't wait to get away from me.'

Again there was no reply and no movement from him. For a long time there was silence and something told Téa there was more going on here.

'Tristan,' she took a step towards him, 'is there something stopping you from going home? Are you afraid of something?'

'I thought I told you to shut up about things like that,' his voice was strangely mute, 'Seto isn't the problem here.'

'Then what is?'

'I...' he closed his eyes and lowered his head in humiliation, 'I don't remember how to get home.'