Chapter 9

Kaiba was just making his way back towards his study when Tristan arrived home, accompanied by Téa. Instantly Tristan averted his gaze and from the way he was pulling at his shirt sleeves it didn't take a genius to work out something was wrong. Without saying a word he made his way towards the stairs and up towards his room. Kaiba gave a heavy sigh at the sound of a door being slammed shut; he'd just spent the last half hour dealing with Mokuba, he wasn't sure he had the energy for this.

'What's wrong with him?' Téa's voice was mute.

'Go home Téa.'

'No,' her tone was firm, 'you can't order me around Kaiba. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong with my friend.'

'There's nothing wrong with him,' Kaiba half glared at her. 'Now go home.'

'Oh I'm sorry, in what universe is it normal for people to forget their way home?' Téa folded her arms. 'But then again why am I talking to you about normality? You think it's normal to control the life of your so called friend. The way you treat Tristan has got to be borderline abuse.'

'How dare you accuse me of something like that,' Kaiba gritted his teeth, 'you have no idea about anything and I want you to leave my house now.'

'So you can go back to selfishly keeping Tristan from the rest of us and pretending there's not something wrong with him when there so obviously is?'

'Get out of my house Téa.'

'Not till...'

The rest of her sentence was cut off by the shrill sound of screaming. Instantly Kaiba felt every last ounce of energy he had left drain from him.

'What the hell is going on here Kaiba?' Téa stared at him as the screams died away.

'Go home Téa,' even Kaiba could hear the exhaustion in his own voice.

'But…?'

'Just go home.'

'No,' she shook her head, 'no I can't do that. Maybe I don't have the first clue what's going on here, but... I can tell you need help.'

'I don't need anybody's help,' Kaiba snapped at her, 'I'm responsible so it's my burden to bear.'

'And just what's that supposed to mean?'

'It means get out before I have you thrown out.'

For a few long moments the two of them held each other's gazes, then Téa rolled her eyes and made her way towards the front door.

'Don't think this is over Kaiba, I will find out what's going on here,' she flicked him one final look as she crossed the threshold and closed the door.

Once she had gone, Kaiba gave another heavy sigh and made his way back upstairs. He headed towards his brother's room and pushed the door open to see Tristan wincing in pain as he attempted to comfort a hysterical Mokuba. Everything in Kaiba just wanted to run away and hide, but he knew he couldn't do that because both of them needed him. It was his fault they were like this: he was being punished for the way he'd treated them both.

'Seto,' Tristan's voice was dull, 'what's so important about tomorrow?'

Kaiba went to answer him, then hesitated. It was hard to judge what his reaction to the answer would be and he didn't want to risk upsetting him, not now. Instead he just listened to the sound of Mokuba's sobs die away to whimpers.

'It must be something pretty important if you're not willing to tell me,' Tristan lowered his gaze.

'You shouldn't worry so much about it,' Kaiba's voice sounded as dry as it felt, 'you'll probably wake up tomorrow knowing exactly what it is anyway so why get all worked up about it now.'

'And if I don't remember tomorrow, what then?'

'Then we'll deal with it.'

'Just like that, huh?' Tristan gave a muted laugh. 'You know it was easier being suicidal.'

'Don't,' Kaiba glared at him, 'don't you ever say that.'

'Why not when it's the truth?'

'Because I...' Kaiba cut himself off. 'Because I didn't waste all that time and money on getting you well again for you to go right back to square one over something so stupid.'

'Stupid? You think my memory loss is stupid?'

'I didn't mean...'

'No I think you did,' Tristan cut him off. 'And I think maybe you actually like the fact I'm like this, because when I have no memory I'm easy to control and I don't object to being locked up in this house like your damn prisoner.'

'Tristan...'

'Why can't you just give me a reason to stay Seto?' Tristan's face filled with a strangely desperate look. 'I'm running out of reasons to stay.'

'You were robbed?' Mai stared at her. 'When?'

'Last night,' Nayta sighed, 'that's why I've closed the shop for the day.'

'Have you reported it? What was taken?'

'Of course I reported it,' she gave a half laugh, 'not that they took much. Just an engagement ring and a box of Elemental Stones, if you can believe that.'

'Were they valuable at all?'

'Well the ring was definitely one of the pricier ones, but the Elemental Stones were just your standard basic household items. I guess the case they were in set them apart a little, but even then...'

'Well I guess you should be grateful for small mercies, but it's still awful.'

'No, what's really awful was just how creepy they were,' she shuddered, 'there was something... not human about them.'

'But I thought everything classed as human,' Mai frowned, 'even the gods or am I totally misunderstanding the Etean translation here?'

'No, you're right, everything classes as human provided it has all four of the human element. There are a few breeds which have their humanity frequently debated because no one's sure whether or not they should be classed as human because they kind of do and kind of don't have all four elements. And there's also one breed which everyone agrees isn't human, the Unrealm.'

'Unrealm?'

'Unreal beings created by humans. Because of how they're created they don't have souls, therefore they're not classed as being human.'

'I see.'

'But anyway enough about all that, I want to know how my favourite customer is doing.'

'I'd be doing better if I had the energy to get out of bed,' Mai stretched and yawned at the same time.

'Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't expect you to still be in bed this time of the morning. I mean, I know I'm an early riser, but...'

'Don't worry about it, I didn't get out of bed at all yesterday,' she yawned again, 'I've just been so tired recently.'

'Is that normal?' Nayta frowned. 'I mean, I know pregnant women are often tired, but...'

'I'm not sure. The only woman I know who's been pregnant recently is Ahna and I don't feel comfortable talking to her about it.'

'Still a little jealous, huh?'

'I hate myself for it, but it's hard not to be,' she sighed. 'Feeling this tired doesn't really help either.'

'Maybe you should try a little meditation. I've been suffering from insomnia recently myself and I've found meditation has really helped to make me feel rested, even if I'm not necessarily getting anymore sleep.'

'I guess there's no harm in trying it; right now I'd give anything not to feel so exhausted all the time.'

'So apart from the exhaustion how have you been?'

'Pretty good,' Mai's face filled with a weak and tired smile.

'Still refusing your mate's request for marriage?'

'Yeah, he doesn't like that much.'

'I wouldn't have thought he would.'

'Still I have my reasons,' she yawned again, 'and he knows that.'

'You really are tired, aren't you?' Nayta studied her for a moment. 'Tell you what, I'll pop back to my shop and grab some of my meditation stuff and give you an introductory course now, if you like.'

'Sounds good to me,' Mai suppressed yet another yawn, 'if I'm going to try this, I might as well try it now.'