Chapter 5 - Love and tears

Love and tears



`Kaede! Hurry up, you'll be late for school!' shouted her grandmother from the bottom of the stairs. `Come on, if you hurry up then your grandfather will drive you on his way to work.'

Kaede was upstairs, throwing on her school uniform as quickly as she could. When she had accomplished this and brushed her teeth, she began a desperate hunt for her shoes. Finding them underneath a pile of clothes, she rushed around madly throwing stuff into her satchel.

Kaede ran downstairs and into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast as she passed the table. She took a bottle of water from the fridge and kissed her grandmother on the cheek, then ran out to the car, where her grandfather was waiting. As she climbed into the passenger seat, he laughed loudly.

`It's the same every Monday,' he chortled, and pulled out of the driveway.

They arrived at Domino High with ten minutes to spare, so Kaede got out calmly and said goodbye to her granddad.

`You know, next Monday, I think you should get up earlier, then we won't have the weekly dash,' he laughed at her again, then kissed her cheek and drove away.

As Kaede walked up to her classroom through the corridors, the people she passed all seemed to be turning and looking at her. She was used to this by now, but it always annoyed her a little bit. Mostly people in the corridors avoided her, as if she was cursed. Sometimes, however, the boys would come up to her and start pushing her around, but it always ended up with them getting their butts kicked by Joey and Honda.

Today seemed to be different though. People kept staring at her in bewilderment, and then one girl came up to her and asked `Um, miss Mishua. Pardon me if I am out of place, but I thought you were going out with Joey Wheeler.'

`Yeah, I am. Why, what have you heard?' Kaede said, almost bored. She was fed up with people being amazed that she was going out with Joey. It wasn't that weird, was it?

`It's just, I heard that you were at Kaiba's ball last night, and you kissed him there,' the girl said, suddenly cowering as Kaede went from bored to angry.

`What?! Where did you hear that? I never kissed Kaiba and I never would kiss Kaiba. He is an arrogant, slime ball and I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot barge pole.'

`But you did dance with him,' the girl squeaked.

`I am going to kill that damn Yuula! And Duke.' Kaede pushed the girl out of the way and sprinted to her classroom.

When she arrived she saw Yuula and Duke sitting with their other friends; Yugi, Honda, Tea, Ryou, Sakura and Ana (short for Ana-Gaelle). They all looked up when she entered the room, and Yuula and Duke both began to look very worried.

`What the hell did you have to go and tell everyone for?' Kaede yelled. `Why did you tell everyone? I'll kill you!'

Joey jumped up and grabbed Kaede to stop her from attacking Yuula.

`Hey, it isn't my fault,' Yuula stood up and pointed at Duke. `He told everybody.'

`It wasn't me!' Duke yelled defensively. `You were the one whole told Yugi and Tea, I just told a few other people.'

`Who told the whole school,' Yuula shouted back. `I told Yugi and Tea because I knew they would be able to keep a secret, unlike some people.'

`What? I didn't know they were going to tell everybody,' Duke ran his fingers throw his hair angrily. `You see, this is the reason we stopped going out. Because you kept accusing me of things I didn't do.'

`No, the reason we stopped going out was because you couldn't keep secrets. Like the time you asked me if I wanted to “eat cake” with you and I said no, and you told Joey and Honda about it, and asked them what you should do, whether you should keep going out with me or not, and they told EVERYONE! Do you remember that, huh?' (NB Everyone who was in that particular RS lesson will understand the cake thing)

`It's not like I told them to tell everyone, they should have kept their big mouths shut.' Duke glared at Honda and Joey, who hid behind Kaede and Tea.

`No, YOU should have kept your big mouth shut! I can't believe I forgave you enough to let you dance with me last night. Out of everybody who went to that stupid ball, I chose to dance with you because I thought we could be friends, and you go and tell the whole school that Kaede danced with Kaiba. What kind of friend do you think you are?'

`WAIT!' Joey ran between them and held up his hands for them to stop. Duke, who had his mouth open ready to shout at Yuula some more, stopped. Joey looked from one to the other and then to Kaede. `You danced with Kaiba?'

Kaede's mouth dropped open. How could he not have known? Everybody else did.

`You-you didn't know?' Kaede asked quietly, stepping towards him.

`No! Well, I heard something about you dancing and something about Kaiba, but nobody said…' Joey's words trailed into silence. Kaede looked at him in disbelieve. Apart for thinking he must have been pretty thick not to understand what had happened, she also felt sorry for him.

Duke glared at Yuula. `See what you've done? He didn't know, and he found out like this. It's all your fault he knows now.'

`Hey, don't blame me for this. If it wasn't for you, no one except you, me, Tea and Yugi would know, but because you had to open you're big fat mouth everybody knows.'

`Hey, Joey,' Kaede went up to him and took his hand, ignoring Yuula and Duke, who were now having a full on shouting match, watched by pretty much everyone in the whole school. Kaede heard her name and also Kaiba mention several thousand times; so all those in the school who hadn't known she danced with Kaiba were now all in on the “secret”.

Kaede lead Joey through the crowds of people and they went to get their outdoor shoes on. They went outside and sat on a bench as far from the school building as possible. Joey sat down and looked at his hands, up at the sky, anywhere but at Kaede's face.

`Joey, I am so sorry. I didn't want to. I was kind of forced to,' Kaede said gently, kneeling on the bench beside him, leaning forwards to try and see his face.

`How could you be forced to dance with anyone, especially Seto Kaiba?' Joey clenched his fists as he said Kaiba's name.

`Look, Joey,' Kaede put her hand under his chin and tried to get him to look at her, but he just wouldn't. She gave up and moved closer to him on the bench. `I was dancing with Takumi to begin with, because I didn't want to dance with some stranger, but halfway through the dance there was a partner change, and somehow I ended up dancing with Kaiba. I tried to get away but he held onto my arm and wouldn't let me go. Please, I really didn't want to dance with him.'

Joey stayed silent. Kaede sat back on her heels. `Do you remember when Kaiba used to go to our school, back when Duel Monsters wasn't a very big game? Well, he duelled me then, and I was winning. I was going to win, and you remember what I had bet on me winning?' Joey shook his head. `Well, Kaiba bet his necklace with the picture of Mokuba in it, and made me bet the necklace that I was wearing, which was my mother's.' Kaede stopped, remembering. When she continued it was in a small, quiet voice. `I didn't want to put that necklace on the line. It was an heirloom, passed on to the eldest girl of the family, from generation to generation. It was thousands of years old, found in the remains of an ancient Egyptian tomb. It has been in my family for hundred of years, and my mother gave it to me when I was eleven, just before she died.

`Kaiba forced be to bet it, and I was determined not to lose. I was winning and all I had to do was play my dark magician girl and it would have all been over. I had it in my hand. But, I don't know how he did it, he stop me from playing my card. And he won. He took my necklace and ran off with it.' She looked down at her hands just as tears began welling up in her eyes. `I demanded a rematch but Kaiba refused. He said, “I don't duel with losers.” So he kept my necklace, and as far as I know, still has it.' A tear formed in Kaede's eye. `And last night, he told me to think of dancing as duelling. I don't know why I agreed in the end, probably for the satisfaction of me being better at dancing that him, but I agreed to dance one dance with him. But instead of everybody joining in, it was just he and me, in front of everyone. And I don't really remember what happened. I cleared my mind and didn't concentrate. And, I saw something-'

Kaede stopped. She didn't want to tell Joey about what she had seen. Not yet. He would just be creeped out. And how would she be able to explain it? She didn't even know what it was herself, just a girl who looked like her and someone called Priest Seto who happened to look like Kaiba. Kaede didn't believe in past life, but she thought that just maybe Hebeny was her in a past life, and Priest Seto was Kaiba's. She couldn't think of any other explanation.

`So you see Joey, it's not like I wanted to dance with him. I just didn't want him to win one over on me. Just like you wouldn't have wanted him to win one over on you. I wish that I had gone with you to see that film, I do, more than anything. But I promised my grandfather that I would go, and I couldn't let him done, by not going and by walking away from a duel. I am so sorry Joey, but you must know I would rather be with you than with Kaiba, you do know that, don't you?' Kaede said quietly through silent tears. She reached out and took Joey's hand.

Joey cleared his throat as if he was trying to hide his emotions. `I'm sorry that I took what people said so seriously. Its just that people kept coming up to me since I got to school, asking me if I was still going out with you. And when I heard that you had danced with Kaiba, I couldn't stand it. Kaiba has done so many horrible things to us, Death-T, trying to take my pride as a duellist at Duellist Kingdom, almost killing Yugi's grandfather, and if he had taken you from me too, I wouldn't know what to do.'

Joey looked up at last, catching and holding Kaede's gaze. She couldn't think of anything to say in reply to this. Stunned, she just sat silently, staring back at him, until he broke that stare by putting his arms around her waist and pulling her onto his lap. She put her arms around his neck and lay her head on his shoulder, and they sat there together, not moving or saying anything for fear of ruining the moment. Kaede closed her eyes and hugged him tightly to her, wanting to never let him go. If only I could, she thought to herself, then maybe it will be okay for us.

Without saying anything, Kaede stood up and took his hand. She led him to the cherry tree, where the pink and white flowers were in full bloom. They sat down and leaned against the tree, Joey with his arm around her neck, Kaede resting her head on his shoulder. They sat there for what felt like a few hours, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company.

From the school building a loud bell rang to sound the start of recess. Joey stood up and pulled Kaede to her feet. Before they started walking back to school, Joey put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. She looked up into his eyes, and kissed him, deeply and lovingly. After they pulled away, Kaede offered him her hand and they walked hand-in-hand back to the school building, their classroom and their friends.

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