Authors Notes: This is my first Yugioh fic, so I'm hoping that it's okay. I apologise for the unoriginal title, however it does fit with the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh, nor do I pretend to.

Stray: Chapter One

The young blond haired man let out a loud yawn as he stretched his arms out over his desk. So desperately he wanted to sleep, but class was just about to begin. Then again the fact that he was in school never prevented him from getting a little shut-eye before.

"Are you alright, Jounouchi-kun?" piped a concerned voice.

Pushing himself up, he looked around to find his smaller best friend standing next to his desk. Flashing his usual wide-Jounouchi smile, he replied, "Ah, yeah, I'm fine. How about you, Yugi?" However, he could tell from the sudden frown that appeared on his friends face, that something was wrong.

"Jounouchi-kun I'm worried about you." The smaller boy stated uneasily.

Katsuya stared back perplexed, and thought for a moment. Yeah, he was pretty sure that he hadn't done anything dangerous recently. Nothing that would warrant his friend's worry anyway, so he continued to stare back at Yugi, hoping his friend would fill him in on what he was so 'worried' about.

Realising that his friend had no idea what he was talking about, Yugi gave him. "Everyday for the past couple of weeks, you've looked so exhausted whenever you come to class. Every time I look over, you look like you're about to fall asleep, and once you even did! A few of the teachers have already given you a lecture about it and if they see you doing it again, I'm pretty sure they'll give you detention."

Katsuya groaned inwardly. He was convinced that just about all of the teachers had it in for him.

"Plus you haven't been to the game store for ages. Jii-chan has even asked me if you're still alive. Not to mention that whenever the others and I ask you to hang out, you say you're busy and run off."

He frowned. He understood now. Not only was Yugi worried but he also missed him. He brushed his hand through his hair and sighed. It was true that he hadn't been around much lately and that he had offered his friends little explanation of his sudden un-attendance in um, well doing friend-like activities.

"The others are worried too, you know."

Damn Yugi and that adorably worried expression on his face that made him feel guilty every time he saw. Guess there was no hiding it now.

"I got another job." He said, finally.

"Eh? But what happened to your last one?" asked the multi-colour haired boy in surprise.

"I…I still have it."

"Huh? But then…Wait, you're working two jobs?!"

"Yugi, keep it down!" whispered Katsuya, quickly shoving his hand over the boy's mouth. "The school doesn't know I have another job and I'll be in deep shit if they find out!"

"But why are you working two jobs, Jounouchi-kun? Don't you already have a weekend job too?"

"Yeah, but if my Dad and I want to have food and a place to stay for the next month then I had to take this other job." He replied wearily.

Noticing the sympathetic expression on his friend's face, he quickly perked up. "Hey, but it's not too bad, you know. The job's pretty easy and all. I'm working at one of those twenty-four hour stores and with my shifts I don't get too many customers so I'm either tidying the place or sitting around doing nothing. And, hey, the pay is good considering the sitting around doing nothing part." he laughed. Yet the expression on his friend's face remained the same.

"Jounouchi-kun, has…has your Dad started…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence. However, he knew by his friend's sudden silence that Katsuya knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, and he's run up a debt." He began, dejectedly. "I'm not exactly sure how much but I know that it's a hell of a lot. That's why I needed the extra job. If we can't pay this debt, we're screwed."

"But-but can't the bank give you an extension on the pay date? A few years back when the store wasn't doing that great, I'm pretty sure that Jii-chan went to the bank and-"

"I'm afraid not…"

"But…but why?"

"It-it's…" he sighed, "Just because."

"Everyone, get to your seats!" yelled their teacher as he entered the classroom, startling Yugi and several other students.

Yugi looked at his friend feeling completely helpless. "Jounouchi-kun…"

"Mutou-kun! What are you doing?!" boomed the teachers voice.

"Ah, sorry, sir!" he cried stumbling back to his seat.

With that, the class began, and not long into the period, Katsuya found himself dosing off once again.

He sighed as he piled cans of soup onto the shelves. He felt guilty about Yugi, his friend obviously worried about him. He'd have to apologise tomorrow and hopefully make him realise that this was something he had to do. There was no way that the bank would give his father an extension. Not after his previous records. Katsuya was surprised that the bank hadn't already cancelled their previous loan.

The sad thing was he knew that even if they managed through this and somehow managed to pay off their debt, his father would just go and do the exact same thing over again; get another job till it became too much, take a drink, get addicted again, claim he doesn't have a problem and then run up another debt. The only difference was that each time the debts just seemed to get bigger and bigger. How much longer could this go on?

Still, no matter what happened, he had no choice but to continue on working to secure their income. His father was in no condition to work at the moment and he refused to abandon him when he needed him. He wouldn't abandon him like his mother had them…

But at the same time with all his jobs and having to attend school, things were really taking it out of him. Yugi was right about him being constantly exhausted and he had next to no time to rest. He would go to school, do his paper route after that, go home and do his homework and maybe catch a quick nap if he had time, leave to go to the store were he worked into the early hours of the morning, catch a few hours sleep when he got home and then would get up for school were the whole routine started all over again. Yes, life most definitely sucked at the moment. And sadly, unknown to him, it would only become much worse.

Katsuya let out a loud yawn having just woken up. He lay there for a few minutes, surprised that he had actually awoken before his alarm had gone off

"I wonder if I have time to go back to sleep." he mumbled to himself as he reached for the alarm clock. "Nine twenty five," he pondered sleepily. "That's mean I have-" He stopped and it finally clicked. "That means I'm late!"

With as much agility as he could muster having just woken up, he leapt off the bed and started to shove his clothes on while at the same time trying to find his school bag. "Shit! I must have forgotten to put the goddamn alarm on when I came home last night. I was just so tired..."

With that he ran down the stairs. "Why the hell didn't Dad wake me up?!" he thought angrily to himself. Of course considering how reliable a man his father had been in the past he knew that he really shouldn't have been that surprised.

He sighed. "No time for breakfast…"

"Dad, I'm away to school! Sorry but you'll have to make your own breakfast this morning!" he yelled as he ran out the door. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't actually seen his Dad since yesterday morning. He had been out when Katsuya had returned home from school and last night when he got home from work he had just gone straight to bed. Usually he would have popped his head into his Dad's room just to make sure he was okay. Or well, that's what he told himself anyway...

The real reason was to make sure that his father was still there and that he hadn't suddenly abandoned him like his mother…

Hastily he shook his head. He had no time to think about that. Right now he had to concentrate on getting to school.

By the time he reached the school building he was about ready to collapse. Whether it was due to being unfit or his general exhaustion of late, he made a mental note to try and exercise a little more. He grabbed hold of the railing willing himself not to die as he tried to regain his breath.

"Amazing. I didn't think you were so special and ahead on your studies that you didn't have to worry about turning up to school on time." stated a voice from behind him.

Katsuya grimaced as he turned around to find none other than the arrogant, narcissistic millionaire, Kaiba Seto.

"Like you can talk Kaiba! You're late too!

"Yes but unlike you, mutt, I have a corporation to manage which in turn allows one certain leeway. You on the other hand-"

"Shut up!" the blond haired boy yelled suddenly. "Like hell you're the only person that works hard! I happen to work damn hard, for your information and-" Abruptly he stopped, having to catch his breath. Yelling when he felt like he was about to collapse was a very bad idea.

The taller boy smirked, "Hm. I'm sure you do," and with that walked off.

If it wasn't for the fact that he felt like he was dying he would have gone after him. That Kaiba bastard really pissed him off, putting him down whenever he got the chance. He snorted. And here Yugi wanted everyone to try and get along with the guy!

By lunchtime, Katsuya was wishing that he had never bothered getting out of bed. Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. He was late for school and ended up receiving a massive lecture off his teacher about being late in front of the entire class, while Kaiba stared back at him from his desk looking all smug!

Ok…he didn't look smug, in fact he hadn't even been looking at him all, but Katsuya was sure that in Kaiba's mind he was being smug about the whole thing.

After the lecture on being late, he got another one about wasting class time, and to make matters worse as punishment he was given double the homework everyone else had received, which he had no idea when he'd actually have the time to do it. Add to that the fact he was exhausted, still had the rest of the school day ahead of him and two jobs waiting for him afterwards.

"Honda, please kill me, okay?" he mumbled as his other best friend appeared.

His friend frowned. Usually his best friend was so energetic with a smile on his face, but lately he had been the exact opposite.

"Jounouchi, I'm-"

"You're worried about me. I know, I know." Katsuya interrupted. "Yugi gave me the whole speech yesterday. I'm fine, really."

"You're not."

"What are you talking about? Of course I am." He said, forcing a fake smile on his face.

"Idiot! Do you really think I can't tell when my own best friend is unhappy?!" yelled Honda angrily. A few girls turned around to see what was going on, but Honda gave them a glare that made them turn away again instantly.

"Honda…"

He sighed and leaned against his friend's desk. "Yugi told me that you've got another job. Why didn't you tell me?"

Katsuya shrugged. "I…I guess I didn't think it was that big a deal."

"Come on, Jou, this is me. Your Dad must be in hell of a deep for you to have- what is it, three jobs now?"

He didn't reply; instead just stared down at his desk. He was so tired. He really wished Honda wouldn't question him about these things right now.

"You won't be able to keep this up for much longer you know."

"I have no choice…"

"How's that?"

"Look, can we just drop this, please? I don't want to talk about it right now." he pleaded in an unusually quiet voice.

Seeing the distress on his friends face, Honda decided to stop pressing. "Okay." He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll talk about it later, ne?" Katsuya gave a small nod. "I really am worried about you, you know. And I'm always here if you need me."

The blond haired boy couldn't help but smile at his friend's words. "Thank you, Honda."

"No problem." he replied before returning to his own desk.

Katsuya sulked into his chair. Not only had he still not apologised to Yugi for making him worry, he now had to do so with Honda too.

"I'm sorry, everyone…" he whispered softly.

Unknown to Katsuya, Kaiba Seto was watching him. For some reason, Seto could not help but sense a change in the blond haired boy recently. This confused him. Not the change in the boy but that he had even noticed such a thing and the fact that he was now curious.

The annoying, second-rate duellist no longer seemed to smile quite as much as he once had and always appeared to be completely exhausted when he came to class. Even Yugi and the mutt's other bothersome friends seemed to know little of what was wrong with him. Just what was it that was making the boy act so strangely?

Seto mentally scolded himself. He didn't have time for such idle thoughts. He had much more important things at hand, and again he had no idea why the hell the mutt's change in behaviour was bothering him so much. The only time they ever spoke to each other was when he was taunting the mutt.

Only when it came to duelling did he show any interest in Yugi and his little friends, so why now?

He suppressed a groan and was suddenly over come with the urge to inflict severe bodily harm on the boy who had somehow managed to weasel his way into his thoughts.

"Stupid mutt…"

Katsuya let out aloud sigh as he opened his door, and wondered that if perhaps unconsciously he had been attempting to break the world record for sighing in the past few days. It sure seemed like it.

"Dad, I'm home!" he yelled.

He really wanted to go and have a nap but with all the extra homework he had just received…

"Guess those kinds of luxuries are for other people…" he thought to himself solemnly.

He opened the fridge and took out a can of juice. Last one. And there wasn't much of anything left in there. Great, now he'd have to pick stuff up after work... "Oh well, at least I work in a twenty-four hour store." he figured, trying to look on the bright side.

"Hey Dad, there's not much stuff left in the fridge and cupboards but will you be alright with what there is left for dinner tonight?" he yelled from the kitchen.

He waited for a few moments but got no reply.

"God, he better not be a sleep." he moaned to himself. "Dad!"

"I swear if he's just-"

He stopped, freezing suddenly as he opened the living room door. "Da-Dad?"

There lying on the floor covered in alcohol and vomit was his father.

Snapping out of his stupor he rushed to his side. "Dad! Dad! Dad!"

The smell of booze and puke…It was so strong… And his father wasn't waking up.

"Dad! Wake up! Dad!" He started to shake him a little, but he didn't stir. He couldn't be… God no…

The blond boy was shaking all over. This…this couldn't be happening! Fearfully he lifted his father's wrist and checked for a pulse. He sat there, fingers pressed against the wrist for what felt like an eternity, praying to feel something.

But he felt nothing…

No, there had to be a mistake! He laid his head against his father's chest, struggling not to throw up from the horrible stench.

No heartbeat.

He backed away. His father…he-he was dead… And Katsuya felt his own life shatter into pieces…

Authors Notes: I hope that was okay. Sorry for the lack of Kaiba/Jou interaction. I'm just building up to it at the moment. Any advice on how I could improve and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thank you for reading!