Tea had lunged herself at Kaiba just before the triggered had pulled knocking the gun away from Seto’s head and at the ceiling. As plaster fell down on the two of them Tea tried to grab at the gun away from Kaiba. He held it up high above his head and Tea was forced to shove him down on the couch and crawl over him to pull the firearm out of his grasp. As she wrenched away from him Seto sat up and glared at her.

“Give it back.”

Tea walked away from him and in the direction of the balcony. “Your not going to get this from me. I’m not letting any gun near you...” She opened the glass doors and then hurled the gun over the edge into the sea below.

Walking back inside Tea plopped down next to Kaiba on the couch. Crossing her arms she looked at Seto blankly. “If you’re thinking up some crazy scheme to hurt yourself again, then you can just forget it. I’m not leaving you alone by yourself until I’m absolutely sure you aren’t gonna blow your head off or something.”

Seto continued glaring at her and clenched and unclenched his hands.

“You threw my salvation out the window...”

Tea spread her arms in a bewildered fashion. “What are you talking about?”

Clawing slightly at the couch cushion he took a deep breath. "That was the only sure way that I could kill myself. Just think about it, I’ve been doing all these things to myself but I just can’t die. I jump off a balcony and I still can’t die. That gun was the only way that I would definitely be killed... You don’t understand... I don’t want pain. I’ve had enough pain... People are pain. They’ll always be pain... I just wanted to get away from it all, but you got rid of my way out... It’s your fault. It’s all your fault. You’re against me just like the rest of them. You’re out to get me, that’s what you are. You’re just here to cause me pain. That’s all you wanted in the first place, you just stayed here to cause me pain. That’s what you are, pain... It’s your fault... I should’ve known. You’re just like Yugi. You just want to humiliate me... You just want to crush me into a little pile of rubble like everyone else. You’re out to get me. You’re all out to get me. All of you... You’re all out to get me!"

Seto had sunk his fingernails deep into the couch cushions and his voice had been getting louder and tenser as he was talking. Tea slowly scooted closer to Kaiba and placed her hands on either side of his head as he glared at her.

"Seto, I’m not out to get you. Everyone is not out to-"

"Shut up Tea." He batted her arms away and got up. Walking to the middle of the room with his arms behind his back Seto stood there in silence as Tea got up and walked next to him.

"Seto..."

"SHUT UP!" He whirled on her and practically breathed fire in her face.

Tea glowered at him. “Just let me help you Seto Kaiba! Whenever my other friends are down they always let me help them. Even Joey let’s people help him, even though he doesn’t like it. Yugi always trusts people to help him, and he helps them out in return. Yugi doesn’t shut people out like they were some virus come to take over them. Yugi doesn’t-“

Tea stopped abruptly and noticed how Kaiba had started pacing back and forth when she had started talking about Yugi. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

Standing in front of him and grabbing his shoulders to stop him Tea talked in a much gentler voice. “What’s wrong?”

Seto’s eyes bore holes through her. “Nothing!” He turned away from her and swung the door open just to be tackled down by a small little bundle of black hair.

“Seto!” Mokuba squeezed his older brother as hard as he possibly could as the transformation of cold CEO to playful child took over Seto.

Ruffling Mokuba’s hair affectionately the older Kaiba had a huge smile plastered on his face. “Hey Mokuba, nice to see you too.”

Mokuba continued hugging the life out of his brother. “I knew it! I knew nothing could kill my big brother!”

Seto glanced briefly over to Tea and then back to Mokuba. “What would give you the crazy idea that I had died?”

Mokuba blinked back a couple tears of joy. “Tea was crying and told me you went on vacation… That’s just what people did when our parents died… But you would never leave me, I knew you wouldn’t leave me all by myself.”

Seto pinned his younger sibling to the floor and started tickling him with a playful grin. “Of course, I’ll always be here for you.”

Being all around playful and foolish the two brothers tackled and tickled each other for a few minutes until Mokuba left with one of the biggest smiles he’d ever had on his face. Seto leaned up against the end of his bed and sighed happily. “What would I do without him…”

Tea sat down next to him and poked the tip of his nose. “I knew it.”

Kaiba stared at her blankly with still a hint of playfulness gleaming in his eyes. “What?”

Tea smiled. “I knew there was a kid down inside you somewhere.”

Seto stood up and dusted himself off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And he walked out of the room and Tea heard the faint sound of his office door closing.

She smiled and shook her head. ‘You just don’t give up Seto.’ Still with a smile on her face Tea left Kaiba’s room and went into her room. Looking over at the calendar briefly she barely noticed that is was the 31st…

*************************

“Good morning.”

Tea’s eyes popped open and she was staring straight at the smirking face of one CEO.

Seto dangled some car keys in front of her face. “I’m giving you a ride to school. Now get ready, I’ll meet you downstairs…” He pointed over to a tray of food sitting on her desk and he walked out of her room.

Rubbing sleep out of her eyes Tea got up and got dressed. Eating her breakfast she slid down the banister and walked to the front door where Kaiba was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His trench coat now returned to him Seto opened his eyes and his icy blue orbs cast their gaze over Tea. “You look nice…”

He went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up them. “Mokuba! Time to go!”

Mokuba slid around the corner and ran down the stairs putting on his jacket with a half finished rice cake in his mouth. Seto smiled and ushered his little brother out the door along with Tea.

They all got in the car and Seto dropped Mokuba off at the elementary school before taking both himself and Tea to the high school.

He let Tea out of the car and then walked into the school by himself. They both handed the past months work into the teacher and then went to sit in their seats. Tea sat near Yugi and the rest of the gang and Seto in his own corner by himself…

Yugi spun around in his seat and smiled at Tea. “Welcome back. We haven’t seen you in a while.”

She smiled at her friend. “Thanks. So what’d I miss?”

Joey pulled his chair over to the two of them. “Just all the useless boring information that they keep trying to shove into our heads. So what did ya do at the big mansion all this time? Did ya raid the house and take all the candy?”

Tea rolled her eyes at the hopeless blonde. “No. I basically spent all my time in the library and just hanging out.” She looked over at Yugi. “So what did you guys do while I was gone?”

Yugi shrugged. “Normal things, playing Duel Monsters, hanging out at my grandpa’s shop… the usual.”

Tea smiled at Yugi and felt a chill go up her spine. Turning around she could see Kaiba stabbing his pencil into the desk as he glared daggers at Yugi. She was about to get up and go talk to him but the bell rang and class began…

***********************

The lunch bell rang and Tea walked out with the rest of the gang and sat down at the table and started to eat. She saw Kaiba go sit in a corner by himself and stare into blank space. Shrugging she went back to her lunch and talking with her friends, catching up on the news of everything that had been happening since she was gone. Yugi had been whispering something to her when she got that icy feeling go down her spine again. Looking over in Kaiba’s direction she saw him taking one of the plastic forks and stabbing it into a piece of paper he was holding in his hand and every once in a while glaring up at Yugi.

She told her friends that she would be right back. Then she walked over to Kaiba who was concentrated on stabbing the already shredded piece of paper. Leaning over his shoulder she looked at the paper to see in big bold letters the words “YUGI MOTOU”.

Suddenly Seto noticed Tea standing there and crumbled up the piece of paper. Shoving it into his pocket he looked blankly at her. “What do you want?”

Tea folded her arms and started tapping her foot. “What do you have against Yugi?”

Kaiba looked away from her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

She sat down next to him and gave an exasperated sigh. “I know you have something against him. You keep glaring at him, and you were just stabbing a piece of paper to death with his name on it… What’s the problem?”

Seto turned to look at her and locked his gaze onto her eyes. “Do you like Yugi?”

Tea cocked an eyebrow at this. “Of course, I mean he’s my friend…”

He shook his head, “No. I mean do you have a thing for him...?”

Tea’s expression became even more curious. “Well… no. He’s just my friend…”

Kaiba breathed a small sigh of relief and his eyes softened as he looked at Tea. “I’m sorry… I just thought-… I’m sorry…”

Tea giggled a little and brushed some of Seto’s hair out of his face. “It’s okay…”

*****************

“Hey, look at Tea…” Joey pointed a finger and turned to his spiky haired friend. “Yug, am I right, or has hell frozen over… is Tea being nice to Kaiba?”

Glancing over at their friend Yugi cocked his head to the side slightly. “Well… it looks like she’s being nice to him…”

Joey snickered evilly. “We gotta go bug ‘em Yug. We just gotta.” Getting up he yanked his smaller friend with him and Tristan followed.

*****************

Seto smiled at Tea and was about to say something when he felt a hand fall down on his shoulder. Looking up his eyes narrowed at the blonde standing next to him. “Go away Fido.”

Joey smiled at Kaiba. “Hey Kaiba. What’s up?”

Seto clenched his fists. “Go… away…”

Tristan decided it was time to put his two cents in, “Awe come on now Kaiba. That’s no way to talk to your best bud.”

Seto got up and headed for class. “I don’t have time for this…” Smiling he flicked the end of Tea’s hair slightly. “See you later Tea…”

She blushed a little. “Bye Seto.” Whirling on her friends she glared at them. “What are you guys doing over here?”

Joey smirked, “We should be asking you the same question. What were you doing over here?”

Tristan grinned evilly, “I think she’s gone to the dark side Luke. Get your lightsaber it’s time to go after Darth Vader!” He grabbed an imaginary lightsaber and started after Kaiba with Joey when Tea grabbed the back of their shirts.

“Don’t you DARE!”

Joey turned around and started snickering. “Why do you care Tea? It’s not like you have a crush on him or anything…”

Tea didn’t say anything and Joey was about to talk again when Yugi butted in. “Leave her alone Joey.” He then looked over at Tristan. “You too…”

The whole subject dropped there as the bell rang and everyone went back to class.