Something was wrong, he could just tell.
Even though she still smiled and acted normal, he knew she wasn't.
She zoned out a lot more, ran into things and tripped more than normal. Something was wrong with her.
Joou Shin smiled brightly like she always did, having a conversation with both Anzu and Jounouchi about what ever it was. Every now and then, her and Jounouchi would start almost yelling at each other over a topic, and Anzu would have to tell them both to calm down before it got out of hand.
Everything seemed fine with her, but she wasn't.
"Kaiba, wait!" Joou shouted, but it was too late, he was already gone, going after the bastard that took Mokuba and Anzu without thinking, his main intent to save is younger brother.
"Damn it, Kaiba.!" Yami cursed, and his fists clenched into tight balls, watching as Kaiba rode away on his motorcycle until he was completely gone.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw movement. He turned, to see Joou shaking uncontrollably, her duel disk making a slight noise due to the movement. Her face was looking at the ground, so he couldn't see her face.
"Joou.." he said. Never before had him nor Yugi seen her cry, or look so distressed.
"She doesn't look very good.." Yami heard Yugi's voice from his mind, coming from the Millennium Puzzle that dangled from his neck.
"I agree. I've never seen her get this way."
"Maybe you should say something?"
Talking to her and trying to find out what was wrong would do nothing, since she was as stubborn as could be.
Suddenly, she looked up, a slight smile on her face, but it looked a bit twisted and she continued to shake. "L-lets go.. Help out.." Joou's voice broke, but pretended as if it had not in hopes Yami didn't notice.
Such act didn't work. He knew her too well it seemed.
Joou started to question the silence coming from her friend, when she suddenly felt a cloth fall on her head, and then cover her vision.
Pulling it back, she turned to see Yami, who wasn't looking at her and instead had his eyes and head turned to the side.
"Go ahead and cry. There is no one here, and you can use that to hide your face.." he said, having placed his dark blue jacket over her.
Her smile faded, and she looked up at him, her expression blank.
"Y... Yami.." Again, her voice cracked, as tears started to roll down her face, her black expression replaced by a pained one.
She gripped the jacket with one hand, hiding half of her face.
Yami suddenly felt her lean against him and he couldn't help but look down at her, even though he had tried to respect her privacy and not look.
His arms wrap around her tightly, holding her closer to him. Watching her cry and in pain made his chest hurt, and all he felt like he wanted to do was take away the pain, but didn't know how.
Never before had she cried in front of him.
How long had she been holding this in?
Joou shook harder, and no matter what, she couldn't stop crying, even after Yami had held onto her tightly.
They stayed like that for a while, Yami patiently waiting for Joou to feel better, until finally Joou gently pulled away and wiped her eyes.
"Sorry.." she mumbled.
Yami shook his head and gave her a gentle smile. "Don't be. I think it is better you cried than hold it in any longer."
Joou stared at him, before smiling and nodding.
Handing him back his jacket, blushing slightly, she said, "Lets go save Mokuba and Anzu."
"Right."