Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Okay, so I lied... new story coming your way! I just felt so inspired by this song, I had to base a fiction on it. Update for the other stories will come soon, I promise!

The song is called "Collide" by Howie Day. Yeah, you probably already know this song, and if you're one of those readers that likes to listen to the song while reading song fics, then I'll note that this fic is based off of the ACOUSTIC version. Much more relevant to the story, anyway.

No, it is not AU. I don't do AU. Kcool.

Also, it's 6am here and I haven't slept a wink. Yes, there are mistakes in here. Yes, I will fix them. But not when I'm this dysfunctional. Kthanks.

Chapter 1

It all started with the day of the garage sale... the event Mrs. Gardner held annually in the family's front yard, to keep the house from becoming full of useless clutter. Her groggy, sleepy-eyed daughter arose from her bed, barely ready to start moving boxes outside and shoo away the early birds that wander around the front of her house, who were hoping to snag the best deals. Tea really didn't like dealing with those people. Honestly, she just wanted to get through the day as quickly as possible, so she could at least go back to sleep, or hang out with her friends. Tea had even asked a few times to opt out, but her mother insisted that if she wanted dinner tonight, she would help.

All in all, Tea wasn't really paying much attention to who or what was around her, the customers stopping to browse and then shortly leaving, most of them uninterested in the array of items for sale. The whole thing was a bore. Tea only sat dully in her chair, texting her friends on her phone (promising them again and again that as soon as she's liberated from this hell, she'd join them), when she noticed a woman studying something in the corner. The object, not the woman, was the thing that caught her attention.

Tea saw her old guitar, lying on its back in an old black hard case with the lid propped open. Beneath the dust and dirt was an exceptionally beautiful hand-crafted guitar, lined with silver strings and gold-colored frets. The tuners were made of the finest fiberglass, and the wood a fine oak, which was much like the color of honey. There wasn't a scratch or a dent anywhere on the instrument, and it was formed and fitted to her body specifically. Gazing upon it made Tea reminisce to when she was a bit younger and had a knack for making music with it, feeling the notes fill her soul, and how its voice would mesh with hers to become one harmonious sound. Sometimes, when school or work became too stressful for her, the anxious teenager would race to her room, pick up her guitar, and play. Tea didn't at all care about what it sounded like, only that it would make her succumb to its musical embrace. She missed that, and wondered why she hadn't picked it up in a while; was it because she was too busy with her friends, chasing away enemies of the pharaoh that try to destroy all life on earth as they know it? She figured this could be a possibility.

What horrified Tea more than realizing that her mother planned to sell her guitar was the price tag above it: $15.00 (case included). There was no way she would let it go, especially for such a severely inadequate price. Tea had to salvage her guitar; she felt as if she were falling back in love with it again. Without further hesitation, she jumped to her feet and marched to the guitar, packing it back into the case. She then turned to the woman, who appeared confused.

"I'm sorry ma'am, this item is no longer for sale," Tea said to the woman. The woman took one last look at the guitar, shrugged and walked away, seemingly not bothered by it at all. Tea smiled to herself, feeling as if she rekindled a lost love with her instrument. She grabbed the guitar and raced up to her room. She reopened the case and ran her fingers nimbly over the face of the guitar, picking up the accumulated grime.

"I'm sorry I've ignored you," Tea spoke softly to the wooden instrument, "but I'm gonna clean you up, tune your strings, and hopefully I can play you more often now." As she headed to the kitchen for some cleaning supplies, Tea began to recollect her knowledge of how to play the instrument – chords, notes, rhythm patterns, how to read tabs, etc. Playing guitar was like riding a bike, and thankfully, she hadn't forgotten how to do either.

"Mom can handle herself for a while," Tea said aloud to herself. "I need to bring this baby back to life!"

Several weeks later...

Tea felt as though she was on the cusp of a musical breakthrough. Almost everything came back to her instantly, and she remembered why she loved this guitar so much. A day or so after she rescued the guitar from the garage sale, she came across an acoustic version of one of the songs she had often heard on the radio. The original song was pretty good, she thought, but the acoustic version was absolutely divine. Just listening to it filled her heart to the brim with its warm melody, of course accompanied by the smooth and rhythmic guitar. As she was figuring out the chords and singing along, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to a certain boy's face...

No. It was the face of a young man, of whom she had, secretly, been gradually falling in love with. His bright, but sharp, violet eyes seemed to see right past her outer walls and into the very depths of her soul. They had become such good friends, once she had finally decided within herself to acknowledge him as his own person, rather than just the other half of Yugi's mind and soul. Tea suspected that this was also around the time she found herself falling for him, She couldn't help but notice the similarities between the lyrics of the song to the relationship she felt that she shared with the great nameless pharaoh. The more she sung, the more connected she felt with the song, and with him through the song.

It's too bad I'd never let myself play it for him, she sadly thought, I don't think I'd ever be that good.

Finally, Tea felt that she had the song to her own satisfaction, able to play it through smoothly without having to pause, and having made her musical interpretation apparent in her playing and singing. All the while she had been keeping Yugi up to date with her progress, as she felt he were the only one who wouldn't think she was geeky for this recent splurge of inspiration. Yugi marveled at her accomplishment, and suggested that she bring her guitar to their beach bonfire night during that weekend so she could play it for them.

"Are you sure, Yugi? I don't know..."

"Why not? What kind of friends would we be if we didn't support you doing what you love to do?" he said it matter-of-factly, like he thought she was insane for even questioning this.

"Thanks Yugi, I really appreciate it. It's just that I don't know if you guys would like it or not..."

"I'm sure Joey, Tristan, and Yami will love it. I definitely will, no doubt about it."

Tea's heart lurched at the mention of Yami's name. If she were to play for them, he would be listening too... just the thought made her nervous.

"Tea?"

"Oh, sorry Yugi, spaced out for a bit."

"And don't worry, I know the Pharaoh would love to hear you sing and play your guitar."

"YUGI!" Tea shouted over the phone. Her face was warm and she felt quite embarrassed. Did Yami just hear him say that to her?

"Ha, don't worry, Yami doesn't listen to my phone conversations. So you gonna play for us or what?"

Tea let out a small sigh. She knew that if she played her music for the Pharaoh and she sounded terrible to him, it would ruin any chance of a love interest from him at all. Though she also knew that Yugi would persist if she declined. "Alright fine." She hung up and resumed her practice routine, suddenly way more self-conscious about the way she sounded.

-TO BE CONTINUED-