BEAUTY IS . . .
by DP-san
formerly known as Wusai, the Dark Phantasy


Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is ©opyrighted to Takahashi Kazuki and all those affiliated, which, by chance, does not include me.

A/N: With a little extra time on my hands, I decided to revise one of my old fics – but as I only had about twenty minutes, I had to choose something small, easy, and with obvious points for revision – and I picked this one. Whoo-hoo! Now, my Yu-Gi-Oh! knowledge has greatly diminished; I believe I only got up to Pegasus' duel tournament thing, and that was in the dubbed anime, so this is based on the events from around there. I decided to omit Serenity because I didn't have a good excuse to have her in there . . . but you can view the original fic in the next chapter, so it's not a big loss.

I don't know the name of Yuugi and co's Japanese teacher, if they have one and if his or her name was ever given, so I chose a random name (which I realized after I was done was the manga-ka's name . . . ) – but if the name was given . . . please tell me what it is? Thanks. Constructive criticism rocks my socks off. xD

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the sky was blue . . . a perfect day for roaming outside and, in the case of Jounouchi, spend some quality time with his friends Yuugi and Anzu instead of wandering around and beating up random punks, as Honda was spending the day at home, recovering from various wounds and bruises received from letting down his guard while he was fighting an acclaimed street gang.

But the sweet afternoon melodies of children laughing as they played ball and cars honking at each other to go the crap faster were broken by a loud hybrid of a shout and a groan.

"Aww! That Takahashi-baka, assigning us this stupid thing to write. Who the hell would want to write some fifty words about the definition of 'beauty'? Huh?! Why don't we just pull out some dictionary and find the definition of beauty and just add some other words, huh?" Jounouchi clutched the lined paper printed with directions at the top, crumpling it until it was on the verge of being as wrinkly as an old woman's butt. Anzu sighed.

"Jou, it's for our own good. If we want to get jobs, and if we want to lead a good life and not become janitors when we're older, we have to be able to express ourselves through writing. Takahashi-sensei just wants us to practice that skill."

"Well, somebody has to be janitor, right?" Jou retorted. "If there were no janitors, how would anyone else survive?! Janitors clean up after everyone's messes . . . tidy up the rooms . . . Imagine what would happen if there were no janitors on this earth! Pretty sad, huh, everyone wallowing in their filth! In fact, I think this world would cease to exist if there were no janitors. Yes, that's right, I'm going to go home and make a present just for our school janitor . . . a position to be proud of . . ."

Yuugi giggled. "Why don't you take that same passion and write those fifty words about beauty? I'm sure what you just said is at least twice the amount you need to write . . . Let's get on home; come on."

Jou sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, yeah . . . You two go on. I'm going to do my work here, in the park – sure wish there was a janitor for my room; it's too messy for me to think in . . . think . . . ow."

Anzu smiled. "All right. Bye, Jou! See you tomorrow!" She and Yuugi waved, then set off in the direction of their own homes. Jou sank into a park bench and pulled out a folder to write on. He reread the directions:

Today's assignment is to write fifty words on the word 'beauty' – to help you start off, what is beauty? What makes beauty unique and found in the eye of the beholder? What is your interpretation of beauty? Think about what is beautiful to you and expand on that. Please use the space below to express your thoughts. – Takahashi-sensei

Jou tapped a pencil against the paper, and little shards of graphite flicked out from the dots. He set his pencil down and thought of an ingenious idea. He grinned, then wrote a sentence: Beauty is a very hard to define subject.

He held his paper up and chuckled. "This ain't so bad after all."

-:-

Ding-dong.

"I'll get it, Grandpa!"

Yuugi ran over to the door and flung it open. "Anzu! What're you doing here?"

"Ah, about that homework assignment . . . I was sitting at my desk and staring at my paper for a couple hours before I finally wrote, 'Beauty is a lot of things,' but then Takahashi-sensei would think Jou wrote the paper to me. You're always thinking about everything – I thought that maybe, if we worked together, we'd be able to figure out something good . . . Have you finished the assignment?"

Yuugi grinned and laughed nervously. "No . . . That's a good idea, though. Come on in! It must be pretty cold outside."

"Thanks!" Anzu stepped in and took off her shoes. They made their way to Yuugi's room; he cleared some cards and stray papers off his desk and pulled up a chair for Anzu. They sat down and Yuugi pulled out his paper from his folder; Anzu did the same. Yuugi picked a blue pen from the pencilholder on his desk while Anzu took a pencil from her bag.

"So . . . " she began hesitantly. "Beauty, eh?"

Yuugi skimmed over the directions. "'Think about what is beautiful to you and expand on that.' Well, winter and autumn are beautiful . . . Sunsets are beautiful . . . Plants growing are beautiful . . . But is there a connection between them?" He frowned. "What about you, Anzu?"

She shrugged. "Well, I don't know . . . "

"What's the most beautiful thing to you?" Yuugi prodded.

Anzu thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "This friendship that we've been giving . . . all the love and sharing memories that you and I, and Jou and Honda have . . . Giving and sharing, I suppose, is what it is."

Yuugi smiled. "That wasn't so hard! I'm sure you'll be able to get it down in words really easily. But me . . . A frosty winter day, a sunny autumn day, a sunset . . . "

"How peaceful," Anzu sighed. Yuugi snapped his fingers, making Anzu jump.

"I've got it! Beauty is peace. Yes, that's it." He set his pen down on his paper and let the words flow.

-:-

"Hey! Anzu, Yuugi!"

Jou ran up to the two of them and clapped them on the back, jolting the books out of Yuugi's arms.

"Whoa! Sorry Yuugi, here, lemme get those for you . . . That assignment last night wasn't so hard once I got started on it. In fact, I think I finished it in about fifteen minutes or something!"

"What'd you write?" Anzu asked. "'This assignment about what beauty is is pretty tough, Takahashi-sensei! In fact I don't know if I can write a whole fifty words on it. Maybe if you made it forty or thirty words it would be a lot easier, don't you think? Oh wow, forty words already, maybe I should finish up so you don't have to read as much: Beauty is beauty, yeah, that's it! The end.'"

Jou laughed. "No, I actually thought about what I wrote. It's an A paper for sure."

Anzu raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Why don't you let us see it?"

Jou blushed. "Well . . . only if you let me see yours too."

"Why don't we trade papers and read them?" Yuugi suggested. "Then we all get to read each other's paper! I mean, I didn't get to read Anzu's, even though we were working together, because I was so busy with mine." He smiled, then took out his paper; Jou and Anzu followed suit.

"I'll trade with Yuugi," Jou said, "and then I'll read yours, Anzu, and we can go in a circle. Triangle. Whatever."

Anzu nodded. "Okay . . . here goes!"

They swapped papers and fell silent as they read, then traded again to finish. After a short pause and returning of paper, they said in unison:

"That was beautiful."

They smiled and Jou chuckled. The bell rang, and the three of them made their way to their classes.

-:-

On Takashi-sensei's 'A Papers' bulletin board:

Beauty Is . . . by Motou Yuugi

Beauty is a frosty winter day, with the ground covered in a blanket of soft, fresh, glittering white snow. It is also walking on a crisp, autumn day under a canopy of gold, with leaves crunching like paper bags beneath your feet. Beauty is also seeing the heads of young plants peeking out from beneath their blanket of soil, catching a glimpse of the marvelous sun. Beauty is also a beach with gentle waves at sunset. My definition of 'beauty' is 'peace'.

Pinned underneath:

Beauty Is . . . by Mazaki Anzu

I think something is 'beautiful' if you can share it with someone else. Even if it's a simple necklace, in another person's point of view, it could be the most beautiful thing in the world, just because you gave it to them. I think beauty is in giving, and sharing.

Pinned beside Anzu's:

Beauty Is . . . by Katsuya Jounouchi

Beauty is a very hard to define subject. I think a beautiful day is a day you can share with someone else, and be happy about it. A beautiful day is a day on the beach, which you can share with your sister, or a friend. Beauty is companionship, or friendship.

- fin -
revision 11/27/2004
original 06/09/2002