Harvest Moon in the Afternoon
By: ACE329
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yugioh! It strictly belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.
Summary: It was supposed to be an ordinary, mundane high school field trip. But things never turn out as expected, do they? Yuugi and his friends find themselves left behind at a rest stop…in the middle of nowhere! But there's far more out there than cornfields…
Harvest Moon in the Afternoon
An empty road stretched past dying cornfields in the sweltering heat, the stalks dry and brittle as they reached for a colorless sky. Everything remained eerily still, as if bound by the sun's throbbing heat, silently begging for a reprieve. A gust of wind, maybe a wisp of cloud to blot out the sun.
Then, a figure emerged from the horizon.
It moved slowly and deliberately, an inky splotch against a dull canvas. The figure was a man, concealed in a long, black robe despite the heat. He trudged along the road as silently as the world around him, every withering grass blade, every clout of dust frozen in anticipation. Silence.
A crow screeched from above, shattering the trance the cloaked man had cast. He stopped.
Slowly, slowly, the man drew back his hood, revealing a mass of dusty blond hair, stringy and plastered to his sharp jaw bone from the heat, as he tilted his head to look at the dead sky. His unreadable violet eyes followed the soaring black bird, a moment of thought passing before he took out his pistol. Casually, he cocked the gun and pulled the trigger, watching in mild satisfaction as the crow dropped into a cornfield. It wasn't as satisfying as ending a human life, of course, but he relished in the sharp shift from seeing something go from living to quite dead. From moving to impossibly still. The contrast was beautiful. The echo of the gunshot still rattled the air, ringing out for miles and miles.
A smirk stretched the corners of the man's mouth.
"Yuugi…I'm coming for you."
A paper airplane sailed through the air in a long, continuous stream before twirling and sky-diving into the head of Seto Kaiba. The teen barely flinched before his hand went up to retrieve the annoyance from its landing spot—his shoulder—and crushed it in his palm. A groan erupted from a few seats back.
"What the hell, Kaiba?" Jounouchi cried indignantly as he snatched up the wrinkled paper from the ground, where it was just flung a moment ago. "Why'd you do that for, huh?"
"Stay in your seats!" A gangly woman screeched from the driver's seat. "What is this, a circus?" She grumbled a few obscenities about "teenaged brats being unable to follow rules" before falling back into her concentrated silence while speeding past a few cars.
A wry smirk formed on Kaiba's lips. "You heard the woman—sit." His tone indicated that it was an order, comparable to how a master would command a dog.
The blond teen trembled with rage. "You know, why don't I come back over there and shove this airplane right up your sorry a—"
"Jounouchi!" Anzu interrupted harshly, grabbing his arm. "Stop giving him satisfaction out of your anger. Just ignore him!"
Kaiba shrugged at this remark. "Excuse me, but I was minding my own business until Amelia Earhart over there decided to launch an airplane at my head."
"It was an accident!" Jounouchi bristled.
"I hope you can keep your balance as well as you lie," Kaiba replied off-handedly.
"How dare you—um, what?" Jounouchi questioned right before the bus driver made a wild turn to the left onto another road, narrowly avoiding a passing car. In turn, the teen, who was still in the aisle, floundered for a bit before crashing into Honda.
"Hey, watch it, man!" Honda accompanied his statement with a shove in Jounouchi's side. "Save your energy for the camping trip, yeah?"
"Don't remind me," Jounouchi grumbled as he plopped down next to his friend, despite the irritated look on his face. "I never wanted to go on this stupid trip."
"But the wilderness is where you belong," Kaiba piped up, despite not even turning to look at Jounouchi. He knew the teen could hear his insults miles away.
"Who asked you?" Jounouchi remarked bitterly. Suddenly, he broke out into a grin. "Hey, I bet you're the one looking forward to this trip the most, Mr. CEO. Being out in the wild, hunting for food, taking a leak in the bushes—"
"Don't be crude," Anzu chastised from a seat behind Jounouchi.
He ignored her, still building momentum. "And the best part of it all is, you actually tried to bargain your way out of the trip! For once you didn't get your way—tell me, how does it feel?"
Kaiba gritted his teeth, his mind reeling back to that one agonizing moment during Lifetime Fitness when the gym teacher, Mr. Hirayumi, revealed the class field trip of the semester. In the past a hiking trip would have sufficed, but this time he had different plans. It would be a week-long trip, focusing on the "beauty" of nature and "engaging" outdoor activities that could keep one in top physical shape, such as rock climbing. Of course, one extra stipulation had to be dealt with as well—every student was responsible for their own food supply. Kaiba remembered shooting up his hand the moment the teacher announced this, claiming that he had too many obligations to be away for an entire week.
"Mr. Kaiba, if you refuse to go on this trip, then I'm going to have to fail you," Mr. Hirayumi said, staring unflinchingly into the horrified teen's eyes. "Your money can't get you out of this one, I'm afraid." It was as if a death sentence had been thrust upon him, and he couldn't help but notice the eerie quiet that had fallen over the gym. For once, this was an assignment he couldn't get out of. Perhaps if he were more willing to participate in any of the activities that went on throughout the semester, the teacher would have been more negotiable. He would have to admit that maybe it wouldn't have killed him to kick around a softball or two…particularly if they were aimed at Jounouchi's head…
But right now he was faced with the issue of what to say to the smug face that was staring at him expectantly.
"Well, Kaiba? You feeling good about this trip?" Jounouchi queried as he leaned over from his seat. "When we get there, you better sleep with one eye open 'cause the wolves might come out and eat you!"
"Are you the so-called leader of the pack, then?" Kaiba asked coolly. "Mutt?"
A mess of spiky hair slowly emerged from the seat behind Jounouchi, right before he was about to break out into a slew of curses. "Hey guys?" The owner to the wild hair was Yuugi, staring at them with a pleading look. "Can we not fight for the whole trip? I'm not the only one who thinks you guys need to calm down."
"Hey, if people gotta problem with me, they better tell it to my face," Jounouchi said brusquely. His eyes scanned the bus. "See, Bakura's got the right idea over there." He gestured to the ear buds hanging from the oblivious teen's head. "He doesn't mind the noise."
Bakura hit the "pause" button on his Ipod, glancing up at the eyes that had turned to him. "Huh? What?" he asked, his wide eyes clueless.
Jounouchi waved him off. "Forget about it. But I guess you're right Yuug, I'll try to ignore the arrogant jerk-wad for everyone's sake."
Kaiba grumbled something inaudible while Yuugi beamed. "Thanks, Jou." His eyes briefly flicked to his seat partner. "So Anzu thinks we're going to arrive at the camping spot in about two hours."
"Two hours?" Jounouchi exclaimed despairingly. Anzu nodded, her blue eyes curious. "Why does it matter?" she asked. "That's not really so bad, and we've only been on the road for a little over an hour."
The teen bit his lip as he glanced at both his friends. "I've gotta go to the bathroom."
Anzu face-palmed as Yuugi lifted his eyebrows. "Again? You went right before we left!"
"What exactly have you been drinking?" Anzu demanded. She eyed the empty can of an energy drink that had been carelessly tossed to the floor, which didn't look too reassuring with the skull and crossbones stamped on the front. "Oh God, Jounouchi, really? Why?"
"Hey, there is no way I'm going to sleep on the way there," Jounouchi replied. He kicked the empty can farther away so he wouldn't have to pick it up later. "And besides, I'm hoping Kaiba will doze off so I can get back at him."
"For?" Yuugi inquired.
"Well for calling me a mutt again, Yuug! Obviously." Jounouchi folded his arms, giving Honda a nudge with his elbow while doing so. "And Honda here's gonna help me out."
Honda tiredly blinked at his friend. "With what…?"
"Hey! Were you sleeping or something?" Jounouchi demanded, reaching out to give Honda's arm a shake. "You can't conk out on me now! Geez, it's only been like an hour."
Honda batted Jounouchi's hand off. "Yeah, and? We all got like, what, maybe three hours of sleep last night?"
"It wasn't exactly the smartest idea to be hanging out so late," Yuugi offered. "I mean, it was fun and everything…"
"No, that was exactly why we did it!" Jounouchi said. "Because who cares about this stupid camping trip anyway?"
A crackling throughout the bus indicated that the old speaker system had been turned on. "Mr. Jounouchi, I'm going to have to ask you to please respect your other classmates by quieting down." The firm voice belonged to Mr. Hirayumi, who turned from the front seat to stare the teen down.
"Er, sorry," Jounouchi called to the front. He frowned at his friends. "D'you think he heard the part when I said—"
"—that this is a stupid camping trip?" the voice from the speaker supplied. A snicker rippled throughout the bus. "Yes, I think we all heard you loud and clear."
"As per usual," Kaiba growled.
"Keep your obnoxious comments to yourself!" Jounouchi retorted.
"Likewise."
Jounouchi went on to say something else, but this time Kaiba didn't bother to respond. Unlike the rambunctious teen seething a few seats diagonally behind him, Kaiba was determined to preserve at least a few moments of peaceful quiet.
Honda glared at Jounouchi. "Dude, if you're gonna be like this the whole time, I'm just going to sit next to Otogi instead."
Yuugi peeked from over his seat again. "Don't worry Honda, I'm sure the energy drink will wear off on him eventually."
This caused Jounouchi's eyes to light up. "Which reminds me. Hey, Bus driver! Bus driver!"
"What?" the frazzled lady snarled. She barely glanced in her rearview mirror.
"Where's the nearest rest stop? We gotta go to the bathroom!"
"We?" the trio of friends demanded incredulously.
The speaker turned on again. "Mr. Jounouchi, you're not the one who decides when we can take a break. Again, please sit quietly."
"But damn it, it's an emergency!" Jounouchi protested.
"Should have thought of that before we left," Anzu mumbled. Surprisingly, Mr. Hirayumi gave a different response. "We'll pull over at the nearest rest stop. Everyone, prepare to get off in ten minutes."
Yuugi grinned at Jounouchi. "I think you finally wore him down."
"More like he wanted Jou to shut up," Honda said. He ignored the glare from his seat partner to glance at the road signs. "But anyway, do you guys know where we're at? I don't recognize this area."
"Well that would make sense, considering that we're heading off to a more secluded area," Anzu replied. "This is a camping trip, after all."
"Did you happen to notice the color of the sky?" The small group turned to the new voice, which belonged to Bakura. Somehow he had slipped into the seat across from Yuugi and Anzu's without the cranky bus driver calling him out on it. He gave them an expectant look, as if his impulsive joining of the conversation was the same as if he had been talking to them the whole time.
Yuugi blinked. "The color?" It was just like Bakura to bring up such a random topic.
The ghostly-pale teen gave an odd smile. "Do you see that greenish cast off in the distance?" He pointed to the area close to the horizon, his eyes holding an unusual degree of interest.
"Yeah…"
"A violent storm is coming." Bakura scanned the group's reaction, only to see their confusion.
Jounouchi spoke first. "Okay man, first of all, what? And second of all, that makes absolutely no—"
"Oh wait, I think I know what he's talking about," Anzu interrupted. She folded her arms thoughtfully. "It's a myth that when the sky turns green a tornado will come."
"A tornado?" Yuugi squeaked, horrified.
"Well, that part's the myth," Bakura answered calmly. "The tornado part, I mean. But really, when the sky's that color it means there's going to be a huge storm. Sort of complicates our field trip, don't you think?" The teen's closed-lip smile lit up his face again, yet the group had no idea what it implied. As usual, Bakura's mannerisms were unreadable.
"For something that sounds like bad news, you seem awfully excited," Honda noted.
"That's because I am," Bakura said. His cedar eyes flashed. "Storms are beautiful."
A collective chill ran through the group's spines.
"Well, best get back to my seat before the bus driver takes notice," Bakura commented cheerfully. "See you when we get off!" As if he had said nothing foreboding, he happily slipped back into his seat, which remained isolated towards the back of the bus. The group eyed one another as Bakura popped his ear buds back in place, oblivious to the world once more.
"That kid…" Honda began, shaking his head. Yuugi just laughed, even if a touch nervously. "That's Bakura for you," the shorter teen remarked. Suddenly, his face grew more serious. "But what if he's right? About the storm?"
"Nah," Jounouchi drawled, waving his friend off. "Don't pay attention to that. You can't predict weather based on the color of the sky." Seeing the dubious expressions on his friends' faces, he continued. "Come on, we all know Bakura's got a few screws loose." Anzu shot the blond a warning look, who in turn shrugged innocently.
"Well, in the case that Bakura is right," Yuugi pressed, "Does that mean our trip will be canceled?"
"Yuugi, be reasonable," Honda said. "We could be in the midst of the apocalypse—"
"—With acid rain," Anzu added.
"—And nuclear attacks," Jounouchi tacked on.
"…And still, we would have to go through this trip," Honda finished. "Dangerous or not."
The group broke out into a hesitant laugh, silencing only when a peal of thunder ripped through the air.
"I feel so much better!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he gave Honda a cheerful punch in the arm. "Thank God we got here in time, or I would've—"
"Wet the carpet?" Kaiba cut in as he passed by, a jeer twisting his features.
"Get over it already!" Jounouchi yelled, inwardly debating if lunging at him would be worth it. "That joke is so old, man! I get it—you think I'm a dog. But you're an asshole!"
"And yet, look how angry you get each time," Kaiba replied. "'Man.'" He chuckled faintly at the fury darkening the blond's face, wasting no time in talking to him any longer. He continued on his way, trench coat rippling behind him.
"God, I know I don't ask for much, so if you could just trip Seto Kaiba right now, I'll forever be in your debt," Jounouchi prayed out loud, looking up towards the sky with a perfectly serious expression. Soon after, the sky rumbled menacingly, a flash of lightening making the teen wince.
"Guess that answers your prayers," Honda teased. "And I'm thinking that means no."
"What means no?" Yuugi queried as he popped up behind the two. He was accompanied by Anzu, who looked slightly worried.
"Nothing, just wishful thinking," Honda answered. Jounouchi frowned, his eyes trained on the teen CEO's back. "No, Kaiba's just the biggest slime out there, that's all. If karma were real, you'd think he'd be struck down with lightening by now."
"You should never wish that on anybody," Anzu said. "How would you feel if something bad actually happened to him?"
Jounouchi didn't hesitate. "Pretty damn good, actually." A snicker escaped from Honda's mouth while Yuugi sighed.
"You know," Anzu started, ignoring the blond's response, "This is a really weird place to have a rest stop. It's in the middle of nowhere, and you can't see anything but cornfields surrounding the area."
"It is sort of strange that it'd be here," Yuugi agreed. A quick glance around easily proved that the place hadn't been occupied in a while. Not a single vehicle resided in the small, gravel parking lot except the bus, and little else covered the area except a dingy restroom for each gender.
Anzu followed along with Yuugi's trail of thought. "This place is terrible. I don't know why we stopped here. I could hardly tell which restroom I was heading in because the lettering was mostly chipped off."
Honda shifted his weight, his face mirroring similar sentiments. "At the same time though, I doubt there would be anything around here for a while." A short distance away, the group heard Mr. Hirayumi calling out for the class to be back in the bus in five minutes.
Right then, another burst of light erupted from the sky, followed by a blast of thunder.
Anzu held out her palm. "It's starting to rain."
"What did I tell you?" Bakura piped up suddenly, appearing behind the group. They turned to look at him. "We are indeed in the midst of a storm."
"Nothing but a pair of sprinkler jets," Jounouchi replied dismissively. "It'll pass soon." A cackle from the sky proved otherwise as the wind began to pick up.
"Ooh, it's going to be a bad one," Bakura hummed, rocking back on his heels.
Anzu shivered. "It must have dropped at least ten degrees." Yuugi glanced over before shrugging off his jacket. He handed it to her, as she gratefully accepted. "I think Bakura is right."
Bakura's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Of course I'm right." The group gave the pale teen a double-take, the thought crossing their minds that it might have been the other Bakura talking. The moment soon passed though, as the teen stared back at them with his blinking doe eyes. "What?"
Yuugi shook his head. "Maybe we should just head back to the bus. Everyone's getting ready to leave anyway." At the foot of the bus entrance, Mr. Hirayumi was holding a clipboard, checking off the names of students as they packed in. He glanced over at the group and beckoned them over.
"Come on guys," Anzu said as she began to head in the direction of the teacher. The run-down rest stop was starting to give her the creeps and she wanted to be back in the bus as soon as possible. She'd take a cramped, dirty vehicle with a cantankerous bus driver any day over this eerie garbage dump.
She stopped only when she noticed that her friends weren't following, and inwardly groaned as her eyes caught sight of Kaiba standing before Jounouchi with his arms folded. They were fighting again. But why, though? Didn't Kaiba ever get tired of provoking Jounouchi?
Will it ever stop…?
"It's one thing to be mindlessly throwing around paper airplanes," Anzu heard Kaiba icily declare to the blond, "But entirely another when you leave your trash under my seat."
"Listen, I didn't do it intentionally," Jounouchi said heatedly. "Although come to think of it, maybe I should have!"
"Not helping, Jou," Yuugi quietly chimed in.
"And on top of that, it's only an empty soda can!" Jounouchi ranted. He shot Kaiba another disdainful glance. "You're lucky I didn't 'accidentally' spill milk over your stupid briefcase! Who takes a briefcase on a camping trip, anyway?"
Kaiba straightened his stance. "Unlike low-class scum like you, I have a business to run and need to carry a laptop with me at all times. I'm not about to let this waste of a field trip ruin my company."
"Hey, there's something you can both agree on," Yuugi said. "Neither of you want to be here, what a coincidence! Now on that note, maybe we can stop the fighting and move on!"
Both Kaiba and Jounouchi ignored the shorter teen's attempt to maintain the peace.
"If you're so rich, why don't you hire someone to temporarily run the company then?" Jounouchi demanded. "Or if you're going to be a cheap-ass, why don't you let Mokuba do something for once?"
"Yes, how about that?" Kaiba said. "A child could easily run a company with far more competence than you, who happens to be half a decade older. Although it wouldn't be hard, considering your intelligence is barely that of a—"
"Don't say it," Jounouchi warned.
Kaiba lifted his eyebrows. "Say what? A dog?"
Perhaps it was the constant provoking that had built up to Jounouchi's response. It could have been the fact he never wanted to go on the trip, or never got more than a few hours of sleep the other night. Regardless, when Jounouchi lunged at Kaiba, everyone was overcome with shock.
"Jounouchi!" Anzu shrieked. Bakura lifted a hand to his mouth, while Yuugi winced. Honda, at least, summoned up enough resolve to reach out and pull back his friend, yet swiped at empty air when he realized that Jounouchi had moved too quickly.
As for Kaiba, he stepped aside just in time to miss the enraged teen's swinging fist. Another one came hurtling towards him soon after Kaiba began to laugh in his usual condescending way.
He easily ducked. "For a street punk, you fight like a grandmother." He took a step back, narrowly missing a swift kick from the side.
"Stop moving and fight back, you coward!" Jounouchi hissed, his fist missing its target once more. This infuriated him even further, and this time he didn't hear his friends trying to call him back. All he was aware of was that ever-smirking Kaiba, and how much he wanted to hurt him.
In the midst of their fighting, both teens failed to notice how far away they moved from the bus. It began to rain even harder, the droplets now pelting the ground with more force. An explosion of thunder ripped through the air.
"I'm tired of you, Kaiba," Jounouchi said as he made another swipe at the teen. "I'm tired of how you always have to make fun of me, and I never do anything. You've always been an asshole, but you're the worst with me!"
Kaiba appeared unfazed, sidestepping yet another attack. "You deserve it, mutt. Your type pisses me off, always acting tough when you really have nothing to back it up. You say you're a duelist when all you do is jump on the bandwagon to Yuugi's successes. Your so-called talent isn't real, only a mirage created through luck."
"Is this real enough for you?" In an instant, Jounouchi's right hook made direct contact with Kaiba's mouth, busting his lip. Kaiba recoiled from the hit, feeling a rush of pain beginning to throb heavily throughout his body. He blinked back his shock, realizing that Jounouchi had actually inflicted damage.
The anger immediately drained from Jounouchi's face as his shoulders slumped like a deflated balloon. He glanced at the trickle of blood streaming from Kaiba's mouth. "Oh shit Kaiba, I'm sorry."
It thundered once more. Kaiba slowly met Jounouchi's eyes, his vision becoming more distorted from the rain dripping from his bangs. "You're sorry?" he repeated, his tone unreadable. He could hear his heart thrumming inside his chest, or was that the thunder? He took a step forward. "No, no you're not sorry, at least not yet." He grabbed a fistful of Jounouchi's shirt, drawing him in. "You will regret hitting me."
The group finally rushed over to the scene. Immediately Honda slipped between the two, glaring at both of them. "What's the matter with you guys? Didn't you hear us calling for you? We lost you while you were fighting like a bunch of rabid animals! You both need to calm the hell down." His voice was angry, yet edged towards concerned as he eyed the duo. "What happened?"
Kaiba absently wiped at his mouth. "Nothing." He turned away, perhaps to head back to the bus, but stopped.
Surprisingly, it was Jounouchi who voiced his thought. "Where are we?" In the heat of their argument, both failed to realize that they had somehow wandered in a cornfield, closing them off from the rest stop.
Yuugi shook his head. "When you two ran off like that, we had a hard time finding you through all this." He swiped at nearby stalks, which barely moved from the touch. "It's so dense in here you can't see a thing."
Bakura looked slightly nervous as he appeared beside Yuugi. "And now we're lost."
Kaiba glared at the group. "What? Lost? We couldn't be more than ten feet into this field."
"That's what we thought too," Yuugi said. "Until we started backtracking to make sure we knew where we were. We can't find a way out."
Kaiba refused to accept this answer. "That's because you're all morons," he said flatly. "Come on, it obviously can't be far." He stomped past the group, who, after exchanging looks, decided to follow. He wiped at his mouth again, silently cursing as he felt the blood still steadily dribbling down his chin. The rain wasn't helping either, dripping off his face as red droplets.
"Wow, you really nailed him good," Honda whispered to Jounouchi. He made sure his voice was out of Anzu's earshot. "Nice."
"I feel sort of sorry for him," Bakura commented from behind the duo. Both flinched at the teen's unexpected remark. He was just so quiet, one could never be prepared when he chose to speak.
"Why?" Jounouchi asked warily.
"Well he's bleeding, for one," Bakura offered. "But I think he's just misunderstood."
Both teens snorted at this. "Yeah, you tell him that," Jounouchi grinned. "I'm sure he'd love to find out that he's pitied."
The pale teen ran a hand through his soaked hair and shrugged. "I was simply stating what I thought."
If it could have possibly rained harder, it did. Waterfalls of rain cascaded from the sky, thoroughly drenching the teens. Various curses were exchanged among them while they pressed on through the cornfield. Walking transitioned into jogging, which furthered into sprinting as the weather worsened.
Amidst the sound of rain pelting the ground, the group could barely hear it when someone's agitated voice announced, "Enough of this shit already," accompanied by a deafening blast, which sounded vaguely familiar to the thunder itself. However, it was when they noticed entire rows of cornstalks cleared out in front of them, charred to a crisp, that they knew it wasn't simply the weather's doing. Everyone slowed to a stop and turned around.
With the Sennen ring still glowing, Bakura stood tall with his fingers splayed out. A maniacal grin twisted his face as he raised his hands in defense. "What?" he asked in feigned innocence. "We were taking too long."
The group still gaped at him, at a loss for what to say. As it turned out, he did actually help them, for they could now see the rest stop residing a short distance away.
"Uh, thanks…" Jounouchi managed. No doubt about it, it didn't take Bakura's change in hairstyle (as if the roots of his hair had been electrocuted…) or his partially insane gaze, or even the attack from his Sennen ring to indicate the ancient spirit assumed control. All it took was one word to pass his lips. His arrogant drawl matched or even surpassed Kaiba's usual tone of voice, sounding nothing like the eccentric but soft-spoken Ryou Bakura.
Instantaneously, Yuugi's posture changed as his entire demeanor transformed. His crimson eyes narrowed at the spirit of the ring. "Why are you interfering?" the other Yuugi inquired sharply. He placed his hands on his hips, nonverbally demanding an explanation. Notably, Anzu's gaze flitted over to Yuugi as her body stiffened.
The spirit of the ring eyed the other Yuugi curiously. "Why not? I don't see you helping much."
A ghost of a smile curved the other Yuugi's lips. "The notion of you 'helping' anything doesn't seem quite right."
"Nor does this situation."
The other Yuugi leaned back, considering. Much to everyone's surprise, he nodded once. "Unfortunately, I agree."
"What do you mean, this doesn't seem right?" Anzu asked reluctantly. A powerful gust of wind caused the group to flinch.
"I can't articulate my thoughts just yet," the other Yuugi answered. His eyes followed the cleared path the Sennen ring created as he began to walk through it. "But I suggest we get back on the bus before anything happens."
"Oh, you suggest," the other Bakura said mockingly. "Well then by all means." The other Yuugi ignored this as he proceeded down the path. Soon after, the group followed.
"This is beyond ridiculous," Kaiba growled to no one in particular. "I merely wished to call the mutt out on his barbaric tendencies, and by some onslaught of rotten luck, I get drenched in the rain with these losers."
"Speak for yourself," Jounouchi said bitterly. The mood quickly transitioned to conversational. "Hey Kaiba, do you believe in the Sennen items now? Did you see what Bakura's ring just did? What d'you say to that?"
Kaiba frowned. "I saw that a bunch of ill-fated cornstalks got wiped away."
"Meaning?" Jounouchi pressed.
"Meaning that this is one hell of a storm. Good thing the lightening didn't strike anybody. Would have been nice if it hit you, though."
The blond shot Kaiba a look. "See, now you're just asking for a fight."
"My apologies, is one punch in the face not enough for you?"
Jounouchi scratched the back of his head. "Er, yeah, again, sorry about that."
Kaiba didn't even glance over. "Don't be." He smirked. "I'll get you back. Maybe even worse."
The blond was about to come up with a retort, but was cut off from Anzu's cry of horror. His eyes widened, finally bursting out of the cornfield and onto the gravel parking lot, to where a very distressed Anzu stood. The other Yuugi was next to her, looking very grave. The rest of the group soon emerged from the stalks, moments after Jounouchi.
"What? What is it?" Jounouchi demanded. His gaze rapidly darted around until he found out the answer for himself. A wave of terror washed over him, drenching his bones deeper than the rain ever could.
It was the spirit of the ring who chose to announce the obvious, his voice edging on slightly accusatory.
"The bus left without us."