Oh, for all you Kaiba fans out there, I'm so sorry about this chapter. I know that it would probably never happen, yet I need it for my story and just to tell you, I do not hate Seto Kaiba!
Tea dragged her incredibly heavy burden up the driveway. As she walked, hunched over with the weight of the parcel, she couldn't stop her eyes from straying from the ground to pass over the exquisite details of the Kaiba Mansion. For example, lush, very green grass covered the lawns. Beautiful statues and different kinds of artwork covered the lawns. And, Tea noted with a loud groan, the actual mansion stood several metres behind the front lawns. Several hundred metres to be exact.
Doing her best to keep to the road and stifle the almost irresistible temptation to kick over some of those statues and trample the beautiful lawns took up most of her energy, the rest was left to drag King Kaiba his precious homework. Oh, how she hated that man.... If you could even call him that.
"What do you want?!" a harsh voice demanded out of no where. Startled, Tea dropped the parcel and the stack of paper flew everywhere as it scattered in the slight breeze.
"W-where did that come from?" Tea stammered on her knees as she desperately tried to retrieve the paper.
"What do you want? Trespassers had better beware if they want to find themselves alive and healthy..." the voice snapped.
Tea had given up trying to grab the paper. Instead she looked for where that horrible voice was coming from. Then she spotted it. A camera was installed in one of the large, wrought iron gates. The lens seemed to glare angrily at her.
"I believe I have a personal invitation with Mr Kaiba," Tea replied coolly, looking directly into the camera.
"Do you have an appointment?" the voice barked.
"Do I need one?!" Tea snapped, annoyed. Her back hurt from carrying that package and her knees hurt from the weight.
Suddenly, the voice lost it's harshness. In fact, it sounded youthful, almost childlike... It giggled. "Hi Tea!"
Tea gave a slight sigh of relief. "Hello, Mokuba. Er, just how do I get in?"
"I'll open the door for you. It's fun to scare people like this!" Mokuba's voice seemed to fade for a second, then the door swung open.
It took Tea a full five minutes to cross the remainder of the spectacular lawn. It took another five minutes to cross the elaborate driveway.
When she reached the towering front door, it swung open by itself. A short boy with long black hair stood bouncing on the balls of his feet in the doorway.
"Hi Tea! Hi Tea! Hi Tea!" he said. Apparently, he was pleased about something. Tea decided she wouldn't hang around long enough to find out just what made him so happy.
"Hi Mokuba. I have-" Tea was interrupted as a certain person was heard yelling in the background, "Mokuba! Who is it!?"
"Your giiiirrllllfriiieennd!" Mokuba yelled cheekily back. Tea had a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach.
Some crashing noises were heard, then a few thumps. Did I say a few? I meant a LOT that increased in intensity as they went on. Finally, the big finale was one big crash followed by Kaiba swearing. Any guesses what happened there?
"Oh, it's you," Kaiba said dully, deliberately not looking at her.
"Yeah. Me." She shoved the stack of paper and the heavy package at Kaiba. "Here. Homework and a weird... parcel... thingy. I don't know. Geez, what IS that thing any ways?"
"None of your business," Kaiba replied smoothly, smirking slightly.
"Fine!" Tea snapped, "be that way! You drag me all the way out here and THEN act like I'm some kind of delivery girl?! Well, you know what? Have fun with your goddamn parcel! I hope it's a bomb! Goodbye!"
Tea whirled around to leave. She heard Kaiba comment behind her, "How much did you offer her Mokuba? I'd say she was a pretty lousy delivery girl. I wouldn't have given her three dollars..."
She felt a hand touch her arm, holding her back. "Tea," Mokuba whispered, "Seto fell down the stairs again. He probably is just in pain and actually, I thought you were a pretty good delivery girl...." Seeing the look in her eyes, he added, "But you know what? Why don't you come in? We're just eating dinner."
"At 5:00?" Tea asked doubtfully.
"Yeah, sure, why not? Right Seto?" There was a look in Mokuba's eyes that said, "You insulted her, YOU apologize...."
A helpless Kaiba merely shrugged and mumbled a "Whatever." So, ten minutes later, Tea sat eating dinner with the two Kaiba brothers. Well, actually, Kaiba went into his office, so it was more accurately with Mokuba.
"Mokuba," Tea asked, "why does Seto shut himself away like that?"
"I don't really know, Tea," Mokuba replied thoughtfully. "I think if you want to know that answers, you have to ask Seto."
"I think I will," Tea said decisively as she rose from the table. "Dinner was great, Mokuba," she added.
"Thanks. Seto made it," Mokuba replied cheerfully.
"He can cook?" a puzzled Tea asked.
"Yeah! He can cook ANYTHING!" Mokuba exclaimed happily.
"I never knew Seto- err, Kaiba could cook," Tea scratched her head. She got to her feet once again and wandered from the elegant dining table. "Um, Mokuba? Where's his office?"
"Up the stairs, and turn right. It's the door with all the "Go Away" signs on it."
"Thanks." In a daze caused by all the splendour, Tea wandered up the stairs. She turned right- and choked back a laugh. Plastered all over the door were signs that said, "Go Away!" "Get Lost!" "Do Not Disturb!" Even one that said, "Not Responsible for Casualties Caused by Annoyance!" Giggling slightly, she pushed her way through the door. Expecting to be greeted with the usual string of insults, the lack of sound made her suspicious. Curious, she cautiously poked her head through the door, not knowing what to expect. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she discovered the reason for his silence.
Kaiba sat at his desk, face down on the computer keys. His arms hung limply at his sides and he was slouched in his chair. Tea could only stare. Who knew Seto Kaiba, the world's biggest jerk could ever fall asleep like that and look so pathetic. Something told her to let him sleep, but she had a better idea. Sneaking over to the chair, Tea slapped him in the back of the head. Kaiba jerked up, tipped the chair and crashed to the floor. There, he lay in a heap, blood starting to darken the bandage around his hand. Swearing, he sat up.
"What do you want?!" he snarled.
"Just because Mokuba said to," Tea smiled cheekily.
"Well get out," he rose and pointed to the door. "Can't you read? No one except Mokuba can come in! Not my employees, most certainly not you!"
"I guess friends isn't an issue either! As you obviously don't have any, you wouldn't know!" Tea retorted.
"GET OUT!" he roared.
"NO! I want to know what the hell's wrong with you!"
"I'm fine! Get the hell out!" When he saw Tea refused to move, he lost what little control on his temper he had and dove at her. Only, she had moved and instead of hitting his intended target, he hit the desk with a crash.
"You idiot. You're only gonna hurt yourself one day," Tea's voice dripped sarcasm.
"OUT!"
"Fine, for once you're right. There's no point in being here. Thank you for dinner-" Tea's voice was sweet venom, "Your Majesty, and your good for nothing, crappy hostility. I hope you throw yourself out a window one day, jackass! Goodnight." Tea slammed the door and stormed out, ignoring a worried Mokuba's pleas. She slammed the front door and did her best to trample the lawn as she left the building.
Mokuba watched her storm out. He witnessed a raging Tea seem to spot the flower bed, swerve around and head towards it. Once there, she stamped up and down on the once lush, beautiful flowers. Then, seemingly satisfied with the destruction of property, she headed off to the gates. The scene would have been somewhat comical under different circumstances.
Turning to his brother, he glanced at him with dark eyes. "What happened up there?" he asked no one in particular. Seto obviously wasn't going to come down and tell him, so the only way was to go ask him himself. So, he stormed up the stairs and found Seto's door wide open. "Seto?" When there was no response, he tried again. "Big brother?" Cautiously, he placed his head inside the door. The room was empty. No Kaiba. But the desk was on it's side; the computer on the floor. Now seriously worried, he warily searched the house. He decided the one place he had to be was in his room. Mokuba tried the door. Damn. Locked. Snickering slightly, the younger Kaiba produced a kit that allowed him to pick locks- a birthday present from Joey. Unknown to him though was that Joey did not give it to him willingly; rather, the former owner had used it to open the doors to Tea, Yugi and Tristan's houses in order to invite himself in and look for food. Confronted by the angry trio, he was forced to relinquish his precious lock set and since Mokuba's birthday was coming up.... It was a good idea at the time.
Luckily, Seto didn't know about the object in question and Mokuba wasn't about to tell him. It would mean grounded for life... locked in a room with no way out since his ticket to freedom would be confiscated. Not a pretty picture.
Any ways, he opened the small, black box and took out a slim wire and the pick. He inserted it into the lock and twisted it around a few times, sliding the pick and wire around the mechanism. Finally, he was rewarded with a click. Slowly, he opened the door and heard strange banging noises. Kaiba was banging his head against a wall.
"Um, Seto?" Mokuba asked timidly.
The only answer was the consistent banging of his head against the wall.
"Seto?" Still, no answer.
"SETO!" Kaiba stopped in mid-bang.
"What do you want Mokuba?" he asked, irritated that his younger brother had interrupted his self-inflicted abuse.
"What did you do to Tea?" Mokuba put on his puppy-dog eyes.
"Nothing. She just decided to leave." Seeing Mokuba wasn't satisfied with that answer, he sighed and tried again. "She poked her nose into my business. Then she threatened me! In my own house! Can you believe it?"
The puppy-dog look Mokuba had on changed into a hard glare.
"Seto! I told her to go up there. She was worried."
Kaiba went back to smacking his head against the wall.
"Dammit Seto, pay attention!" Mokuba yelled. Kaiba stopped, shocked.
"That's better. What's wrong with you? She was worried and you chased her out of the mansion! You IDIOT! I wanted Tea to stay and she brought you your homework! But you just run away! You run and hide! Please, big brother, talk to Tea and Yugi and Tristan and, well.... maybe Joey later on.... My point is that Yugi wants to be friends. Why don't you?"
Kaiba stared down at Mokuba stunned. New sensations burst in his being, a hot anger started rising from somewhere deep within, near his very core. Kaiba was sick to death of hearing everyone tell him that he should try to be more social, try to be friends with the brat that defeated him. Yugi robbed him of something that day. He robbed him of his esteem, of his confidence. And now, he was being told to befriend that little bastard? Never. Kaiba would rather be dead than friends with that- that- he couldn't think of a word nearly obscene enough to describe him. The rising he felt had turned into an explosion, as just the thought of Yugi and Co. was enough to push him over the edge- and he didn't have far to go.
Kaiba's features curved into a feral snarl. He shoved Mokuba away from him. Much harder than he meant to and as a result of his strength, Mokuba crashed into his dresser.
"Listen up Kiddo! I have one thing to say. I will never want to befriend that little runt! I don't give a shit about Tea, that bitch can go to hell for all I care! That whining, bitching puppy-dog can-" He was snapped out of his tirade by a soft sound. Mokuba was slumped against the dresser like a broken doll. but, the sound was coming from him. The supernova-like explosion that had raged within the being known as Seto Kaiba ground to a halt, completely extinguished. Kaiba knelt down to see his little brother.
"Mokuba? Are you all right?" he asked suddenly afraid. If Mokuba's not then. . . I'll be alone. No. Not again! Rudely shaken out of his thoughts, Kaiba stared at his little brother.
"Mokuba?" he asked.
"Don't touch me." The words were muffled. Mokuba was crying harder than ever.
"Mokuba?" he asked, uncertainly. Kaiba moved a hand to touch his brother's back, meant in a comforting gesture, to try to repair the damage done.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!!" the young boy screamed. With great difficulty and blinded by his sobs, Mokuba got up and tottered to his room, where he slammed the door as hard as he could. Considering his current state, he didn't slam it hard at all, but it was still loud enough for a stunned Kaiba to hear, before collapsing onto the floor, shaking and hugging himself. He had done it. He had driven away the last thing that had stood with him all these years. Holding himself, he sat on the cold floor, torn by emotion and knowing that there would be no one to hold him.
* * *
Tea stalked down the street. She would have called home, but her cell had died, and with great timing too. She also didn't want to face the confrontation with her mother.
So, she did the next best thing. She went to Yugi's. Ringing the doorbell, she waited anxiously. Grandpa answered the door.
"Why hello there Tea!" He smiled cheerfully. "Yugi's not here at the moment. I think he's at Tristan's." Tea smiled to conceal her disappointment. Tristan lived at least ten blocks away from the game shop.
"Well, thanks anywise," she said. Turning to go, she was almost knocked over by Bakura; he was racing down the street as fast as he could, screaming. Feeling she had to stop him, she dove forwards and grabbed his legs. He crashed to the road, shaking uncontrollably. "Maybe you should bring him inside," Grandpa suggested.
A few minutes later, Bakura was lying comfortably on a couch. Tea was still worried about him though. When loud snoring noises filled the room, she lost it. Waking Bakura up was not easy though. She tried gently shaking, saying his name, poking, rolling and hell, she even slapped him a few times. When she finally realized he wasn't going to wake up, she pushed him off the couch. Still, he slept on.
Thoroughly annoyed, Tea left him lying on the floor, told Grandpa she was going out for a few hours and that Bakura was still asleep. She left out his current position in the room however. Who went to bed at 6:00 was besides her. She snuck out and shut the door silently behind her.
Kaiba sat, shivering in the middle of the floor, his arms wrapped around himself. Every detail of tonight's dinner, imprinted clearly in his mind. Tea bothering him, Mokuba confronting him, himself shoving Mokuba against a dresser... Oh my God. He hurt Mokuba. Mokuba didn't want anything to do with him anymore. "Don't touch me!" he had screamed. Kaiba replayed the scenario in his mind over and over and over, etching it deeper and deeper into his wounded soul. The bandage around his hand was stained red. Damn. He'd change it tomorrow. Thoughts of that day, of Tea saving his life, of that stupid idiot Joey and his goddamn jellyfish crowded with the thoughts of Mokuba and tonight. It was going to be a long night....