Genderbend is my guilty pleasure. This story has been written in part by Ashleen, who I am no longer creatively involved with as well as Katt, my writing partner.
I hope you all enjoy.
Jonouchi caught the bus ride home after school, splitting away from his friends when they reached their usual stop near the Kame Game Shop. It actually put Jonouchi farther away from his neighborhood, but he didn't mind. Usually, Jonouchi could sprint home in good time, making the mile within fifteen minutes with his school bag firmly in hand, sometimes even faster if he had no homework at all to carry.
There was rarely a time where the teachers didn't overburden them with assignments, though. He didn't want to deal with studying for exams, but he needed to get his diploma. Yugi would be disappointed if he didn't at least try, and Anzu had promised to tutor him. Usually Jonouchi didn't even put forth the effort, but for his friends, he wanted to try.
He also didn't want people in class thinking he was as stupid as he sometimes acted. Peers rarely ever took him seriously. Before high school, Jonouchi wasn't too bothered by it, but now his image was starting to bug him. Maybe after he'd defected from the gang, he'd lost some of his street cred, and it probably wouldn't all come back. Not since people noticed him spending time with Yugi instead of his old crowd.
Yugi was strange. Jonouchi didn't quite get him, but maybe that was what was so intriguing about him. He always managed to surprise Jonouchi when things were really crazy, like the time he'd saved Anzu from the escaped prisoner. Jonouchi had expected Yugi to pee his pants in fright and freak out like everyone else had, but instead he had somehow managed to set the convict on fire…
It made him wonder.
But there was no time for him to dwell on it. The air was getting heavy, the sky dark; smelling rain coming, Jonouchi snorted before using one hand to hold his satchel tight as he ran down the street, extending his long legs as far out as he could.
His neighborhood wasn't safe, but people didn't normally mess with him. Most of the thugs who had frequented there knew Jonouchi could fight and didn't think he was worth the effort, nor did they like drawing attention to themselves. The city was changing, slowly cleaning itself up, and the police were finally taking interest in the ghetto. It was long overdue.
Reaching his crappy excuse for an apartment complex, Jonouchi ran up two flights of stairs and used his key to enter his apartment. He shuffled into the living room and collapsed on the futon face first. He could hear his father snoring from the bedroom, the door cracked open as the TV blared in the background.
At least his father was home. If he was home, that meant he probably still had his job at the garage. As long as he was still working, there was some money and Jonouchi wouldn't have to beg his mother for cash. She was always begrudgingly helpful about taking care of him, and Jonouchi hated asking. It felt like asking for charity.
Thankfully, Jonouchi had done most of his school work while on the bus with Yugi and Anzu, who had helped him. He wasn't the greatest at using English, especially with the confusing grammatical rules, but Anzu excelled at it. The teacher often praised her for sounding like a native speaker. Maybe she worked so hard at it because she planned to leave the country sometime soon. Jonouchi didn't think that was very nationalistic of her, but Anzu normally didn't care about that kind of thing anyways.
When he thought about it, he didn't really care, either. When did his country do anything for him? His father blamed the country for many things, and it was only after hearing his teachers rant for endless hours about the selfishness of individualism that Jonouchi finally got what his father was talking about.
His father wasn't even completely Japanese. Jonouchi knew he was at least half white American, while his mother was a quarter and tried to hide it. They both had naturally light hair, and somehow Jonouchi managed to be born with a dirty shade of blond that was lightened with bleach whenever he could afford to splurge on hair dye.
It didn't help that at the same time, Jonouchi knew his father was a useless drunk who gambled away his money and chased after cheap sex workers too much when he did have extra money. He cared more about getting his dick wet when he had enough to drink to cloud his mind than he cared about how much Jonouchi had to eat or whether his clothes still fit. If it wasn't for his stupid school, Jonouchi would try to get an after school job, but he didn't see that happening anytime soon.
He really hated his life. His father was loudly snoring, and becoming fed up with the noise, he shut the door loudly before sulking on his futon, staring at a blank screen on his TV before figuring to turn it on. Sometimes it didn't even work, it was so cheap, but for once, it came on and the light filled the room as the usual commercials began to air.
There was a Kaiba Corporation opening coming soon. Interest piqued, Jonouchi stared as the different rides and games were shown, teenagers running around with smiles on their faces before the new and very attractive CEO came on screen, smiling at the screen in a way that Jonouchi could only describe as "seductive."
"Nobody knows fun like KaibaLand. Opening day is only three days away. Enter to win a free pass, and you might even get a sneak peek at the new, intense thrill of the lifetime, Death T."
Whatever that was, Jonouchi wanted to try it out. The name was ominous, but how bad could any ride be if it was made by a girl? Not that bad. Girls didn't know anything about frights except that they scared easily, and besides, seeing Kaiba again wouldn't be so bad.
Kaiba. Girl wasn't the right word to describe her, and Jonouchi knew that. He'd dug up all he could find out about her-a harrowing task, since she didn't give out information easily to the press. Jonouchi figured out enough to know that she was only half Japanese, like himself, and was adopted at a young age by a billionaire. She was gorgeous, and quickly becoming an icon in Domino due to her position. She also happened to sit in the back row of his English class, where Jonouchi often caught himself staring at her no matter how he tried not to.
It was her eyes. She had the most beautiful dark blue eyes. He'd never admit that to anyone in his life, but he thought about it whenever he caught a glimpse.
Unfortunately, she wasn't in any of the rest of his classes. She was in advanced placement, however that worked in an already incredibly academically driven school that Jonouchi was positive had been set actively against him, and somehow also managed to rule over a company like the most orderly of kingdoms. He often wondered how she did it, but so did everyone. No one asked, because they were too afraid to communicate with her. But Jonouchi knew that, despite that fear, half the student body either wanted her, or wanted to be her.
Jonouchi was hardly passing judgment, though. Kaiba was extremely alluring, and not just because she had a face that looked made for television. It was hard not to want her when she smirked at the camera, her eyes started twinkling deviously, her tone suggesting a coming storm-good or bad. Whenever she came on, Kaiba could just steal all the attention in a room and completely refocus it on her. Her allure went well beyond just simple charisma.
Jonouchi decided he should turn off the TV and tried to pretend he didn't feel the burning in his cheeks. He turned his attention to his school bag, which wasn't going to make him any happier, but he was supposed to be doing homework.
There were some English papers waiting to be completed. He didn't want to think about the amount of effort he'd need to put into it to actually finish them, but at least if he needed help, Anzu probably wouldn't mind getting a call for assistance. She had told him frequently that it was better to try to ask for help than struggle alone and fail a class. Maybe eventually she'd end up eating her own words, but for now, Jonouchi decided to test that theory out.
It was better to try getting some work done while his father was asleep. Although he wasn't drunk (or at least didn't appear to be), that didn't mean Jonouchi senior wasn't a pain in the ass to deal with. When he wasn't being a mean drunk, he was an apologetic sober mess, and Jonouchi didn't want to deal with him. The former was disruptive and normally didn't end well, and the latter just made Jonouchi extremely uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, they couldn't afford an apartment with two bedrooms, so there was no way for Jonouchi to lock out his father when he wanted to get into a pity fest. All he could do when it started was listen until there was no time for it any longer, then blow his father off. It led to a lot of discord in the house, but what else could he do? He didn't have time to hear all his father's woes when literally anything else would have been more deserving of his attention instead. His patience for his father's well-intentioned, but empty apologies had worn thin early in his teen life.
He'd heard all the excuses before, too. Having them slung at him over and over again helped neither him, nor his father. Jonouchi took his English text book out of his bag, along with a ruled notebook. He started scribbling a paper in what he knew was poor English as he tried finishing the homework he had started during his last period class.
At least study hall was good for something.
Jonouchi sighed. Study hall was such a waste of time. He was no good when left to his own devices - studying was hard for him without his friends to keep him focused, and Yugi was sitting across the classroom, out of reach. Not that they would've been able to talk much, but at least it would've been easier to pass notes.
He stared at his English notes forlornly, doodling a little in the margins. Yugi, ever the good student, was deeply focused on his physics textbook, his brows furrowed in concentration. Jonouchi considered blowing spitballs at him just to see him squirm a bit, but decided against it. Chono-sensei was their study hall instructor, and although most of the time she sat at her desk, filing her gaudy nails, she was known to have a mean temper.
Jonouchi decided not to try his luck. He was doing pretty well for himself ever since he left the gang, and he didn't want to invite trouble. He had a couple of magazines in his book bag - some girlie ones and the newest gaming magazine he'd borrowed from Yugi. Jonouchi much preferred to play video games when he had the opportunity-old-fashioned tabletop gaming turned him off nearly at just the mention of them. But Yugi kept going on and on about this popular card game he wanted him to try out, and Jonouchi decided he would, because Yugi was his best friend. Even though he hadn't even heard of the game before. That made sense, though - Yugi's grandpa owned a game shop, so Yugi was always on top of the latest gaming trends.
But Jonouchi's brain was so fried. After staring at his English notes for so long, with words he could barely understand (let alone pronounce), all Jonouchi wanted was a distraction.
Well, maybe he would try his luck, after all. Chono-sensei didn't seem to be paying any attention to the class, so if he was quick about it, he could probably sneak at least one of the magazines. After taking a quick survey of the room to make sure no one was monitoring him, Jonouchi reached down into his bag with both hands, shuffling one of the magazines into the middle of his English textbook. He grabbed his pencil case, too, for good measure, positioning it at the top of his desk in an attempt to barricade his growing pile of books. He did a silent victory cheer to himself when he laid the textbook out across his desk and couldn't keep a stupid little grin from tugging at the corner of his lips.
Jonouchi was so engrossed with paging through tasteful modeling photos that he didn't notice the classroom door beside him quickly open and close. It wasn't until he heard the scraping of seat legs and a heavy thudding that he noticed someone had arrived unceremoniously at the desk in front of him. Long legs crossed under a skirt uniform, short brown hair - what was Anzu doing in this class?
But no - even through his peripherals, he could tell there was something off about the shape of the hair. The color was off, too - less red, and more natural dark brown... Shit! It was Kaiba!
Jonouchi scrambled to close his book without drawing too much attention to what he was actually reading, but in his panic, the book snapped audibly shut. Chono-sensei wasn't at her desk, thank god - probably had run off to the restroom to powder her nose or some shit. But it put Jonouchi on edge - how long had she been gone? And for that matter, how much had Kaiba seen?
He tried looking over her shoulder, but that only got him close to almost having his nose knocked in the face by a moving text book. Clearly, Kaiba was paying him no mind whatsoever. She was in her own little world, taking out different text books from her book bag and laying them all out on her desk to complete. Her notebook was covered in notes, all English, and it made Jonouchi internally groan when he realized how far ahead she was from the rest of the class. Of course, from what he'd seen already on TV, she was a fluent speaker. Why she even bothered with school, he didn't know.
Trying to straighten himself out, he slowly picked up his own textbook again and tried reading over the homework from the night before that he conveniently missed. It was hard to pay attention, since his eyes kept traveling back up towards the back of Kaiba's head, and he knew she wasn't actually paying attention. Probably didn't even know who he was.
Well, that wouldn't do. No girl, no matter who she was, could intimidate Jonouchi Katsuya. He puffed out his chest, trying to summon up courage he knew he didn't even really have before opening his mouth and failing to say anything.
Someone coughed in the back of the room. It only made his awkwardness even worse as his face started to burn and he could feel himself sinking into his seat. When did he ever care so much over what some girl thought of him.
Fuck it.
He'd considered tossing his eraser at her to get Kaiba's attention, but in his past experience with girls, he knew they didn't care much for things being thrown at them. So he nudged her with the end of his pencil instead. The first nudge got no response, so feeling slightly annoyed and a bit bolder, he gave another hard nudge.
Kaiba turned her head quickly after the second time, eyes sharp and slightly narrowed as she looked behind her. She clearly didn't recognize Jonouchi at all when their eyes locked and frowning, she brushed off the corner of her shoulder where the eraser had touched her before speaking.
"What's your problem?"
"There's no problem. I saw you on TV last night," Jonouchi replied, knowing that provided no explanation whatsoever, and pretending he thought it did.
"And?" Rolling her eyes, Kaiba snorted before speaking again, "I don't see how that relates to you interrupting me from my homework."
Jonouchi could feel her irritation, but decided to press on. "It's just, where do you find the time? To do all that and still be a student? I can barely keep up with our work as it is. Oh, and Death T looks pretty cool, by the way."
"I've had tutors for a long time. Most of this stuff you're just learning, I've known years before. School isn't that hard for me... You're interested in Death T? Well, I'm sure it'll be quite the experience once it opens next week. If you have any luck, maybe you'll win some VIP tickets through the Kaiba Corporation website before it opens..."
Jonouchi's eyes brightened at that. Maybe luck was on his side today. After all, no one had caught his little magazine trick, and Kaiba - the hottest girl in school - was actually talking with him. And now insider info about the chance at VIP tickets?
"Yeah, that sounds awesome. I'll have to let Yugi know - if he enters, it'll double our chances, and I know he's been dying to check out KaibaLand..."
"You know Mutou Yugi?" asked Kaiba, her face turning from curious to friendly, "I've been trying to meet him for ages, but I've been a little shy about talking to him. Do you think you could introduce each other? I'd really like that. I'm a big gamer, and everyone tells me he's the best at games here..."
"Shy? The new CEO of Kaiba Corp?" Jonouchi smirked. "I should've tried talking to you sooner, then! Yeah, me and Yug' are best buds. His family runs a game shop, so maybe I can take you there if you're not too busy..."
"Oh I'd love that!" Turning completely around, Kaiba folded her arms and rested them on the back of her seat, crossing her legs at the side of her chair before twirling the ends of her hair, "I've been looking for new cards for ages. I didn't know where all the good game shops around here are located, but if you could take me over there, that would be great. I need to work on my deck, anyways. I'm afraid I don't know too much about what monsters to get."
"Your deck?" Jonouchi blinked in surprise before brightening with recognition. "Oh, you play that new game, huh? It's called Duel Monsters or something?"
It was a surprise for Jonouchi - he knew Kaiba's company dealt with technology, and that Kaiba was a gamer, but he hadn't taken her for a fan of something so low-tech. Next she'd be looking for tabletop figurines.
"Yes, I play Duel Monsters," replied Kaiba, "Sometimes. I just started. I'm still learning the game, but I bet your friend could help me, right?"
"Yeah, Yugi is great at any game he picks up. In fact, he's trying to get me into playing Duel Monsters - even lent me this magazine profiling all the top players. I haven't had a chance to look at it, though."
"I'm sure you're not really missing much of anything," laughed Kaiba before she glanced back at Yugi's direction again, "Usually the top player ranks don't change that much year to year. It's not that exciting.
"What's exciting is trying to get new cards. I'm looking for one special monster in particular, but it's so rare, I don't think I'll be able to find it. It would be nice if Yugi's shop maybe carried it. Have you ever heard of a Blue Eyes White Dragon?"
"No, but it sounds pretty awesome! Although, Yugi did mention that his grandpa had this really special card. Maybe it's the one you're looking for?"
"I doubt it..."
Kaiba changed positioning, setting her leg down before crossing the other one again. She glanced towards the front door, but thankfully Chono-sensei hadn't returned yet. Apparently her face was still in desperate need of assistance.
"But who knows, maybe I'll get lucky," sighed Kaiba forlornly. "I'd pay anything to have one. Then I'd never lose a duel. You can't, with a card like that. It's so powerful, Pegasus, the creator, only made four. I'm going to get them all, one day."
Jonouchi let out a low whistle. "Sounds pretty intense. What do you say about maybe coming to the store today after school? Yugi and I already had plans to try out some games, and I'm sure he'd welcome the extra company."
"Sure, sounds like a date. I'll meet you there right after class."
Chono-sensei appeared right after and Kaiba quickly moved back to sitting forward, delving back into her English textbook like she'd never left it. When the teacher glanced over the class, Kaiba went on scribbling undetected, and Jonouchi almost got caught with nothing before he scrambled to open his book again and buried his face in the text to look busy.
A date. A date with Kaiba. Jonouchi was soaring, barely restraining the glee he wanted to express. He found it terribly challenging to contain his excitement. Wait until Yugi heard about this! Scratch that, wait until Honda heard - the bastard would never believe it, and if he did he'd be so pissed. Kaiba had actually given Jonouchi the time of day, and everything had turned out perfectly. She was even the one to call it a "date," and Jonouchi was beside himself with happiness.
The most popular girl in school, with banging good looks and mile-long legs, had agreed to spend her free time with him. With any luck (Jonouchi was full of it lately, it seemed), he'd actually be good at this Duel Monsters game, and then he could spend more time with Kaiba - maybe even teach her a thing or two.
Jonouchi couldn't say he was sorry for bothering her now. Things were finally looking up for him, it seemed.