Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi, 4Kids, Toei Animation, whatever. I do not own it. It does not own me. Moving on ..


Steel blue eyes wandered distractedly across the lines of Macchiavelli's The Prince, and Seto Kaiba sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. He couldn't concentrate on the book in his hands, not when the whispers and high-pitched giggles surrounding him had increased tenfold in volume in just as many minutes. He glanced sideways at the platinum-haired boy sitting on his right, who was drumming his long fingers on the desk and looking just as annoyed about the giggling as Seto was.

"What are they going on about?" Malik Ishtar blinked at the question tossed sharply to him. A slow smirk stole across his lips.

"You mean you don't know?" Oh, but this was going to be fun. Seto would not be happy.

The brunet certainly didn't look pleased. "No, I don't. I also happen to be nearing the end of a very short fuse, so I'd be much obliged if you decided to tell me." He punctuated this statement with a cool glare, which would have fazed anyone besides the smug Egyptian he was currently questioning.

Malik just smiled wider. "We-ll, there's a new student from Japan. From what I've been hearing, his name is either 'Yami' or 'Sex God', and he's extremely good-looking. He'll probably have half your fan club stolen away by third period." He paused for a moment, contemplating. His golden earrings shimmered as they caught the light. "I wonder if he's into guys."

Seto made a noise akin to growling. "Damnit, those girls are mine! I don't want some pansy-ass kid named Yami stealing them away .." Malik looked at him strangely.

"Why are you so protective of them, anyway? They're not even your gender of choice." Further emphasis was provided in the form of a more-than-slightly obscene hand gesture, at which Seto rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with appreciating those who appreciate your beauty."

Malik snorted. "Egotist."

"Freak."

"Bastard."

"Whore."

"Fuckweed."

"What the hell's a fuckweed?"

"Your face, that's-" Malik's words died abruptly in his throat as the classroom door opened to admit their teacher, behind whom followed the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. "Well, fuck me with something hard and sandpapery," he breathed.

Seto's cobalt eyes narrowed as he gave the boy standing in front of the class a thorough once-over. He certainly was good-looking, with perfect cheekbones and angular crimson eyes accentuated wonderfully by dark lashes that could be seen from across the room. His face was slightly hidden by jagged golden bangs, which were the least remarkable part of the boy's seemingly gravity-defying tri-colored hair. He wore a tight black sleeveless shirt, black leather pants, black boots, and a studded belt. Around his neck and wrists were leather buckles, the silver on which glinted mischievously.

Most of the students stared openly. Seto's features remained expressionless. Malik drooled.

The teacher smiled as she addressed the class. "Everyone, this is Yami Mutou, who's just transferred here from Japan. I know you'll all be the ridiculously helpful people you are-" several people laughed good-naturedly, "-and show him around, so no worries there. Yami, would you like to say a few words?"

Sensing more than a few glances at his hair, Yami spoke, his English very lightly accented. "I don't use hair gel." His voice was the first soothing thing Seto had heard all day, even followed as it was by loud giggles from the girls and disbelieving 'whoa's from the guys. The teacher covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh.

"Well, that is quite surprising. You can take a seat now, next to .. ah, yes! Seto Kaiba. He's the one with the white dress shirt." Seto carelessly raised his hand in acknowledgment. Crimson eyes met steel blue as Yami made his way over to the empty seat, giving the taller boy a faint smile that Seto returned with the quirk of an eyebrow.

When the other boy sat down, Seto smelled cinnamon and musk. He forced himself to ignore it, focusing on Yami's wild hairstyle instead. "If not hair gel, then what?"

"Magical powers," wryly said while twisting a strand of gold around his finger. The teacher chose that moment to call roll and begin the lesson, effectively silencing the class.

About forty-five minutes later, while his head was swimming with diagrams of photosynthesis, Seto felt a piece of paper being pushed into his arm. He looked up and saw Yami, who raised an eyebrow and gestured wordlessly to the note. The writing asked, in spiky but neat letters, Is class always this boring?

Seto had to fight back the urge to smile. He scribbled back, What, the material's too hard for you?

Yami's eyes were quietly indignant, yet dancing with amusement. Like you're one to talk, he wrote, with a cartoon arrow pointing at the notes Seto had given up on half an hour ago.

.. touché.

Just as Yami was about to write back, however, their teacher suddenly snapped out of her lecture mode. "Alright! Hopefully I've taught you enough for the next four days, because we're going to be performing a good number of experiments this week. Tomorrow will be a partner lab with your neighbor, so I hope you have a good one. We'll be needing four liters of distilled water, alcohol, vinegar, Coke .." She continued in that vein for the rest of class.

As soon as the bell rang, Yami was pounced on by several girls offering to help him around the school. They dragged him away with a bemused expression on his face, providing short and polite answers to their excited questions. Both Seto and Malik watched them go, and when Yami was out of earshot, the blond-haired Egyptian boy turned to Seto with widened amethyst eyes.

"Holy shit, he's gorgeous! Seto, you've gotta let me switch seats with you tomorrow."

Seto smirked. "Whatever. Like I'd subject anyone to your flirting tactics."

Malik gave him a hurt-looking pout. "That was cruel. Please, switch with me? With chocolate-coated strawberries on top?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeease?"

"I'll think about it."

To be honest, thought Seto as he walked towards his next class, he wasn't so sure he wanted to Malik sitting next to Yami at all. He told himself it was because he felt sorry for anyone who caught Malik's eye, but then again ..

A tiny part of him might have wanted Yami all to himself.


A/N: A lot more of the characters we know and love will be introduced in the next chapter. By the way, this story's set in America, since I'm not really informed about high school in Japan. Sorry 'bout that .. well anyway, please review! Comments and suggestions are totally welcome.