Insert Cool Yu-Gi-Oh! Related Title, Part 19

Jounouchi stepped out of class. Akino-san had finally allowed him to leave after scolding him a bit more about his current behavior. The tired boy gave a soft yawn and looked at his wrist watch. He only had about fifteen minutes left for lunch, but he wasn’t very hungry.

Guess I’ll just go find a quiet place and take me a quick nap. Maybe the library? I can even ask the librarian to wake me up before the bell rings.

He laughed as he opened the door that led out of the school hallway and into the grassy walkway leading towards the old building that housed the large, decrepit depository of books. The thought was amusing, but knowing the mean, old grouch of a librarian that Domino High was infamous for, he had little faith that his plan would work. The outside sky was refreshing if not slightly warm though, and Jounouchi quickly found himself battling drooping eyelids.

Man, I’m tired!

The blond closed his eyes and yawned again. Unfortunately for him, he was also walking. And walking with one’s eyes closed is a most certain way of crashing into unforeseen objects. Much like he did a few seconds later. “Ah!” the boy yelped as he bumped into some rather large and hard surface and fell to the ground. “What the..? Ah, hell,” he sighed. “What do you want?”

Kaiba glared down at Jounouchi, his arms crossed and an equally annoyed frown on his face. “You seem to have a rather despondent habit of crashing into me.“ Kaiba’s eyes perceptively looked the fallen boy over and arrived at the correct conclusion. “You look tired. You should get some sleep, mutt, or you’re liable to get run over by a passing car.”

“Like you care?” Jounouchi answered looking away.

Kaiba didn’t say a word and the eerie silence from the cold CEO unnerved the fallen boy slightly. “Maybe I do,” the brunette spoke nonchalantly.

What?!

“What?” Jounouchi blinked, surprise mixed with evident fear.

Kaiba shrugged. “I need you as a partner in our group project, remember? I’d rather not have you passing out in the middle of our presentation from lack of sleep. Or being all dizzy and clumsy, like a damned zombie. Get your rest, mutt. You need it.”

If Jounouchi could have somehow physically kicked himself in the ass, he would have right then and there, but he couldn’t, so he settled for doing it mentally. “Yeah. Right. Hmph. That’s all you care about, huh? Your damned grade?”

“Of course. What the hell else would I care about?”

…Me?

Jounouchi shrugged and looked away again. “Nothing.”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

Well, the mutt seems… Distracted. Hm? And it doesn’t just seem the result of sleep deficiency.

“Did you really spend the night in the back of an alley?”

“Yes,” Jounouchi answered again sighing. It was pointless denying it now. He rubbed the arch between his eyebrows. His head hurt.

“Why?” Kaiba asked in a demanding tone. Were it not for the fact that the word ‘why’ is in and of itself a question, speech specialists would have classified the aforementioned word as a command when spoken from Kaiba‘s lips instead of as a question, but Jounouchi answered it anyway.

“Because I felt like it, OK!” he yelled. He was on the verge of really not caring what happened next. He was tired. He was cold. He was hungry. And he frankly really just didn’t give a damn anymore. “Leave me alone, Kaiba,” he whispered, making the brunette strain to hear his plea.

Kaiba’s eyes narrowed. He glared at the blond.

Why the hell am I still here? Obviously the idiot doesn’t want my help… Not that I was going to offer it. But… Ugh. He’s so… Pathetic.

Kaiba frowned again.

Reminds me of a beaten up dog that some kid kicked in the ribs…

His thoughts trailed back to when he was still under Kasaro’s rule. The day Mokuba had found that stray dog and brought it home. He had tried to hide it, but the damned, stupid creature was far to good natured for its own well being. It barked and ran around, happily licking the palm of anyone who would pet it. It had even gone up to Kasaro himself and, wagging its cute, little, innocent tail, tried desperately to engage the man in a quick game of ’pet the doggie.’

Unfortunately, for it, Kasaro was not that kind of man, and instead it received a swift kick in the stomach, followed by a cruel beating. Mokuba had tried to stop him, but in his attempt to get between Kasaro and the very confused dog, the small beast lunged at him and bit the black haired boy on the arm. Kasaro had the dog killed that very same day. Mokuba had cried nonstop for hours. When Kaiba asked him why, his little brother answered that, ‘It wasn’t the dogs fault. He was just confused and sad. And scared! You could see it in his eyes, nii-chan… He was so sorry and sad that he bit me. I know he was. He was just scared. And I couldn’t help him! Nii-chan! I couldn’t help him!!’

Hmm… Sad and scared?

Kaiba looked down at the zoned out boy sitting on the ground.

‘He just attacked me because he was confused! He didn’t know what he was doing! Nii-chan?! Why!?! Why..? Why couldn’t I save him..? Why..? Why weren’t you there to… Help me?’

The brown haired boy sighed and looked away. He noticed the crab grass slowly making its way up the white washed school building wall.

The school groundskeeper obviously isn’t doing his job all that well. Hm.

His eyes trailed back to Jounouchi. The boy’s eyes were unfocused and looked watery.

He’ll probably pass out soon. I’ve seen that look before. Fatigue. Well…I guess… I should… Help?

Kaiba sighed annoyed like.

Jounouchi faintly heard the CEO breath out loudly. It sounded to him like the other guy was annoyed. Maybe mad?

Some impression I’m making. Heh. One pathetic piece of….

He sighed.

I’m too tired to care.

An odd feeling caught his attention. Kaiba was still standing there, and it felt like the taller boy was staring at him. Jounouchi was about to yell at the CEO for still not leaving him alone, but the sight that betook his eyes froze him in mid terror. He actually flinched when he realized, as soon as his eyes raised to look at the other boy, that Kaiba’s hand was inches away from his face. At first, he thought that Kaiba was about to smack him, then his heart nearly panicked as he, for a split second, thought that he might mean to lean down and caress his face, but then he realized that… Kaiba was offering his hand?

“Take it already,” the brunette growled.

Jounouchi blinked a few times.

Am I imagining this?! Or… Is this real?

Kaiba would have been even more aggravated by the look of stupidity on Jounouchi’s face had it not been for the fact that Kaiba detected a lot more that just surprise.

I saw something flash through his eyes… What was that?

“Well?” Kaiba motioned to his outstretched hand again.

“Um… Uh… Yeah, thanks,” the highly surprised and now rather suspicious looking Jounouchi took Kaiba’s hand and let the taller boy pull him up.

OK… What the hell?

“Follow me.” Kaiba turned around and began walking away. He stopped when he noticed the other boy not trailing behind him. “I said ‘follow‘. Don’t you even know your basic commands, mutt? What, were you a failure at obedience school too?”

Jounouchi cleared his head slightly and snorted. “Yeah. Whatever.” He followed Kaiba anyway, much to Kaiba’s unexpressed gratitude. Not that he would ever admit it. The young CEO led him around the building and into another and down a hallway. Jounouchi had never entered this area of the school. He had never needed to.

“In here,” Kaiba motioned as he opened a door.

“What’s in there?” Jounouchi asked still suspicious of the whole situation.

“Why don’t you walk in and find out?” Kaiba answered growing more annoyed by the minute.

Jounouchi frowned, but walked in anyway. He looked around and noticed that it was a storage facility. “Uh… OK? It’s filled with crap. So now what?”

Kaiba smirked. “It’s out of the way. No one comes here anymore.”

Jounouchi mentally agreed. He could tell because of the fine layer of dust that clung to everything. “So? Wait…” Jounouchi’s mind found the perfect opportunity to ask an obviously stupid question.

You’re not going to rape me are you?

“You’re not going to kill me are you?”

“Hmph. As simple as that would be, no. I got another plan for you.” With that said the CEO strode over to a far placed self and pulled out a small, but amply looking folded cot. He pulled both sides open and stepped back to look at a even more surprised Jounouchi. “You look like death. So get some sleep will you?”

“What?! You brought me here to.. To tell me to go to sleep!?!”

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”

“But… Why?!? I thought… You hate me!” Jounouchi furrowed his eyebrows together. His headache was getting worse. “Why would you help me?!”

Kaiba crossed his arms. “Because. I dislike unfair combat.”

“…Huh?”

Kaiba rolled his eyes ever so slightly. “Our battle of wits. I would like to continue it, but you seem to be unarmed.” He smirked.

“… Wha..? Oh. Jerk.” The blond rubbed his eyes. He really was tired. Seeing that cot brought back a deep longing to just lie down and damn the rest of the world. He walked over to it and couldn’t help but eye it suspiciously. He wanted to ask Kaiba how he’d found out about this place, but he really didn’t care much at that point anymore. He was so damned tired.

Kaiba watched as the blond sat down on the old, slightly rusted blue cot. He seemed apprehensive about it, but then shrugged and laid down. He took in a deep breath and turned on his side, away from Kaiba’s view and stopped moving, expect for the constant rising of his chest. The brown haired CEO continued to state at the other boy, unaware that he was doing so, until the silence was broken by a softly whispered ’thank you’. Kaiba blinked not even sure if he had heard correctly.

Did..? Did he just… Thank me? Hmph. Probably thought I wasn’t here anymore.

The bell rang and Kaiba looked at the sleeping boy. Then went back to class.

* * * * * * * * * *

Aw.. This sucks!

Ryou packed his notebooks into his backpack.

/This really sucks!/

//Just skip detention. Problem solved.// Bakura manifested next to him.

/It’s not that simple!/

//Yes it is. What’s the jerk off gonna do? Give you detention again?! Bah! No big deal!//

Ryou frowned at Bakura. /It would hold serious repercussions./

//So would not satisfying me.//

Ryou blushed and looked away trying to hide his evident smile and not burst out giggling like a little school girl.

“What’s so funny?” Honda asked walking up to Ryou.

“Nothing!”

Honda sweat dropped. “O… K…” He glanced at Anzu who also shot him back a ’what was that all about’ look.

Yugi finished stuffing his backpack full of notebooks he did not need and textbooks he would not use. “Ready!”

//Going camping, are we, aibou?//

/Yami!/ Yugi shouted out playfully.

//Why do you carry so many books? You’re not even going to use them.//

/I will too!/

Yami smiled and raised an eyebrow at his hikari.

/Well… I might./

Yami laughed as Yugi pulled the monstrous backpack onto his shoulders. The poor boy was nearly crushed under the weight of the obscene thing.

//By Ra! The damned thing’s bigger than the brat kid!// Bakura blinked in awe and shook his head, motioning towards the struggling boy.

//Shut up, Bakura,// the Pharaoh commanded.

//Or you’ll what? Throw the turtle’s shell at me?!// the tomb robber laughed hysterically pointing to little Yugi who remarkably resembled a turtle in it’s shell.

Ryou nervously laughed. /Bakura, um… Maybe you should uh.. Stop that./

//Why?// the silver haired demon asked.

//’Cause I’ll send your lilly ass back to the shadow realm, that’s why!//

//Hey! The only one here that has any right or permission to do anything with my lilly ass is Ryou, not you!//

Ryou dropped his backpack and almost dropped to the floor himself, wide-eyed and almost hyperventilating. /Baka!/

Yami quirked an eyebrow and Yugi simply looked confused.

* * * * * * * * * *

Anzu and Honda were both sitting at two desks, in the middle of the two boys, looking at both Ryou and Yugi. They were sharing a bag of gummy worms as they discussed the events in front of them.

“Now Yugi looks confused. I bet Bakura just said something over his head.”

“Ryou just fell. Maybe Yami‘s attacking Bakura now?”

“I wonder what the hell they’re actually talking about.” Honda offered Anzu another gummy worm.

The skirt clad girl took one and slurped it into her mouth. “I think it’s kind of fun to try and guess what’s going on.”

Honda looked at her with an annoyed _expression on his face. “No it’s not.”

“Oh, look! Ryou just got up again. He looks kind of scared,” she quickly stated ignoring Honda’s comment.

“Yugi looks kind of freaked out too. He’s waiving his arms around. I bet Bakura and Yami are kicking each other’s asses right now.”

The two hikari’s were standing about three meters away from each other, seemingly staring at a bunch of empty air in front of them, with worried expressions on their faces. Ever now and then, they would hand gesture this way and that, and take a step towards each other and then back again; their eyes darting back and forth.

“I feel like I’m watching a soap opera on mute.”

Anzu sighed. “Yugi…”

Honda looked peeved.

* * * * * * * * * *

/Stop! Bakura!!/ Ryou yelled as he made to grab the ancient tomb robber, but stopped as Yugi ordered the same from his yami. The two yamis took a few steps back from each other and glared.

/Yami! Please, stop!/ Yugi called again. He had removed his backpack and was now desperately trying to call back his darker self.

/Bakura!/ Ryou called out finally remembering a bit of useful information. /Remember our deal!/

The silver haired yami smacked his forehead. //Of yeah! Damned be it! Hell! Damn and hell!// He pointed to the other ancient spirit. //This isn’t over pharaoh!// And then crossed his arms and before disappearing casually remarked to his hikari, //You owe me for this.// And then was gone.

Ryou gulped and didn‘t know whether to hide his grin or his blush, but instead bowed his head in the direction of his fellow school friends. “Gomen nasai Yugi, Yami. Please forgive me for Bakura‘s behavior.”

//What the hell did you say to him?!// Yami asked baffled.

“Um… Nothing…” Ryou waived it off as being inconsequential.

Yami noticed the blush. He turned to look over at his hikari who seemed relived, but otherwise unaware.

OK. Odd.

“So, are you guys done playing? Or should I break open the big bag o’ skittles?” Honda called out, getting up off the desk he had been sitting on.

Anzu followed. “No one got hurt, right? Yugi?”

“No, we’re fine. Ryou managed to calm Bakura down.”

“Really? How’d that happen?” Honda asked questioning the white haired boy. “Just like yesterday, hm?”

“Oh, yeah. Heh. Like I said, you know, Bakura’s not evil anymore, heh, heh,” Ryou fake laughed trying very hard to cover up his weak excuse. “So, yeah. I just asked him nicely, you know.”

Both Yami and Honda didn’t buy it, and if they could have, they would have sent each other knowing looks.

“Right…” said the brown haired boy.

“Honda! Don’t be so rude!” Anzu chastised. “If Ryou says Bakura’s changed, then I, for one, believe him.” She smiled at the tomb robber’s hikari.

//Ooh, I wanna kill her! Tell the slut to avert her eyes! It has no right looking at you!// Bakura spoke only to his hikari.

/Shhhh!!/ Ryou smiled and thanked Anzu.

//What?! It’s not like anyone else can hear me!!//

/Oh, yeah…/ “Oh, no!” Ryou suddenly cried out. “I just remembered! I have detention! Aw…”

“There, there, Ryou. Jounouchi will be with you, remember? He has detention for like, a week, I think?” Yugi spoke while walking over to the group, after having unloaded a few textbooks from his overstuffed backpack.

“Yeah, a week,” Honda agreed.

“That’s what happens when you get into fights,” Anzu shook her head. “I wish he and Kaiba could get along.”

“Fat chance, that happening,” Honda laughed. “Like cats and dogs.”

“You never know,” Anzu insisted as the group made their way out of the classroom and down the hall. “Maybe they just haven’t given it a chance?”

“Or maybe it’s ’cause Kaiba’s a jack ass,” Honda patronized.

“Thanks. I try.”

The group of friends stopped and froze. Standing in the middle of the adjoining hallway, stood the Prince of Cold himself. Honda laughed meekly and tensed his body muscles in anticipation of fleeing.

“Uh..“ Honda tried to cover. “What I meant was-”

Kaiba turned around and walked away, not bothering to let the spike haired boy finish. Honda blinked and the rest of the group let out a hidden breath of relief.

“That was close,” Ryou laughed nervously.

//He should have beat the crap out of him,// Bakura agreed.

Honda crossed his arms and looked ticked off. “Jerk. He could have at least let me finish.”

//I should beat the crap out of him,// Bakura continued.

“But at least nothing happened,” Anzu patted him on the back. “So, that’s good.”

“Wait,” Ryou cocked his head and walked over to the slowly filling detention room which, coincidentally, happened to be in that same hallway. “Doesn’t Kaiba have detention too?”

“Yeah. With Jounouchi,” Yugi reminded everyone.

“Then… Where is Kaiba going?” the white haired hikari asked, concern and confusion evident on his face. “It’s almost time for the tardy bell to ring.”

“Uh…” Yugi scratched his head and shrugged.

Honda quickly stuck his head into the detention room, next to Ryou. “Jounouchi ain’t here either!”

“Oh, no! You don’t think they’re going to meet somewhere and.. I don’t know! Duel or something!?” Anzu covered her mouth in horror. “Do you?!”

“Oh, I hope not!” Honda shook his head. “’Cause, putting my friendship aside, Jounouchi sucks against Kaiba.”

//It’s funny if you repeat what the spiked idiot just said, but remove the word “against.”// Bakura whispered to Ryou. Ryou blinked a few times then tried very hard not to burst out laughing inexplicably in front of the others. He did turn slightly red, though.

“Honda!” Anzu called out, aghast in _expression.

“What?! He does.”

Ryou stifled a small smile.

“OK, so… We need to find Jounouchi,” Yugi quickly cut in. “Before Kaiba does.”

Ryou concealed a growing grin. “You could follow Kaiba?” he suggested. “I mean, if they are going to meet, then he’ll lead you right to him, right?”

“Good idea!” Yugi agreed. “OK! Let’s go!”

“Ja ne!” Ryou waived at the three kids that took off running down the hallway.

A random teacher soon enough called out in a nasally voice the stereotypical teacher greeting, “No running down the halls!” It brought our heroes to simply a fast walk, which, ironically enough, was no match for Kaiba‘s long strides. That, and at the end of the hallway, they couldn‘t figure out which way to go, either straight, left, or right. As a result, they all took a different route, and became equally lost and disoriented.

Kaiba was never located and Jounouchi was given up for lost. Yugi didn’t make it home in time to satisfactorily help Ji-chan and was scolded by the old man again. Anzu upset her diet planner and had to skip her lettuce leaf meal, and Honda missed two calls from desperate teenage females willing to renegotiate their already low standers. Little did they know, Kaiba had actually just stepped into the men’s room. Even super evil antagonists have to pee sometimes.